THE  UNIVERSITY 


OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 

From  the  collection  of 
Julius  Doerner,  Chicago 
Purchased,  1918. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2016 


f 

> 


https://archive.org/details/philosophyofeati00bell_0 


THE 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  EATING. 


BY 

ALBERT  J.  BELLOWS,  M.  D., 

PEOPESSOE  OP  CHEMISTET,  PHTSIOLOGP,  AND  HTSIEint. 


TWELFTH  BDITION.  REVISED  AND  ENLARGED. 


BOSTON: 

HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND  COMPANY. 
SClie  SiliecBtlie  PrcBS,  Cambrififfe. 

1881. 


Bntered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1870|  Iqr 
A.  F.  Bellows, 

Ib  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


BITEESIDE,  OAHBBinOl: 


fEINTED  BY  H.  0.  HOTjaHTON  AND  OOMPAHT. 


G‘\\ 

■ \8S\ 


TO 

THE  FIVE  THOUSAND  LADIES 

WHO,  TEOM  1838  TO  1858,  ATTENDED  MY  LECTURES  ON  PHYSIOLOGY, 
CHEMISTRY,  AND  HYGIENE. 

Dear  Friends  : 

In  the  reminiscences  of  the  past  twenty-nine  years  many  pleasant 
interviews  at  your  firesides,  in  social  gatherings,  on  steamboats, 
and  elsewhere,  are  recalled,  in  which  some  mother  or  teacher  has 
reminded  me  of  facts  or  statements,  physiological,  chemical,  or 
hygienic,  made  ten,  twenty,  or  twenty-five  years  before,  but  still 
remembered;  and  often  has  the  kind  suggestion  been  made,  that 
those  teachings,  which  had  been  useful  to  them  as  mothers  or  teach- 
ers, when  only  treasured  in  the  memory,  might  be  more  useful  to 
their  children  and  pupils  if  collected  and  printed. 

These  kind  suggestions,  together  with  the  fact  that  the  application 
of  science  to  hygiene  has  been  almost  utterly  neglected,  have  in- 
duced me  to  collect  and  condense  the  ideas  of  my  old  lectures,  adding 
to  them  such  as  modern  improvements  in  practical  science  have 
suggested,  and  leaving  out  such  as  have  become  obsolete ; and  the 
volume  thus  produced  I take  the  liberty  to  dedicate  to  the  friends 
who  will  be  most  likely  to  be  interested  in  it. 

With  sincere  regard. 

Yours  affectionately, 

A.  J.  BELLOWS. 


^ ■ 


Z'.  / • 


PREFACE  TO  REVISED  EDITION. 


Since  the  publication  of  the  previous  editions, 
the  author,  during  a visit  to  England,  by  the 
assistance  of  the  best  authorities  there,  carefully 
revised  the  work,  making  many  improvements 
and  alterations,  particularly  in  the  tables. 

He  also  decided  to  unite  with  The  Philosophy 
of  Eating  ” the  best  of  the  contents  relating  to 
food,  of  How  not  to  be  Sick,”  a sequel  to  the 
former  work,  thus  presenting  the  whole  in  a 
much  improved,  more  compact,  and  cheaper 
form. 


PREFACE. 

5^ 


We  have  excellent  practical  treatises  on  Agri- 
culture and  Horticulture,  and  every  intelligent 
farmer  or  gardener  may  learn  what  element  is 
deficient,  in  order  successfully  to  cultivate  his 
grapes,  his  vegetables,  or  his  grains ; and  having 
also  chemical  analyses  of  these  fruits  and  grains, 
and  of  the  materials  from  which  to  obtain  his 
deficient  elements,  he  has  the  means  of  adapt- 
ing his  soil  to  all  desirable  productions. 

We  have  also  treatises  on  raising  horses, 
cattle,  hens,  pigs,  fishes,  and  even  bees  and 
canary  birds,  but  not  a single  practical  trea- 
tise on  raising  children.  We  know  perfectly 
well  that  our  horses  will  not,  without  care  in 
regard  to  their  food  and  training,  be  developed 
in  beauty,  strength,  or  docility.  Our  cows  must 
be  cared  for,  or  they  furnish  little  milk.  Our 
hens  must  have  appropriate  food,  or  they  fur- 
nish no  eggs.  Our  bees  must  have  their  proper 
conditions  of  life  and  health  complied  with,  or 

(3) 


4 


PREFACE. 


they  furnish  no  honey  and  die.  All  this  every- 
body knows;  but  children  are  expected  to  live, 
and  be  perfectly  developed,  both  mentally  and 
physically,  without  care  or  consideration. 

And  so  perfectly  ignorant  are  people  gen- 
erally of  the  laws  of  nature,  that  they  give  their 
pigs  the  food  which  their  children  need  to  de- 
velop muscle  and  brain,  and  give  their  chil- 
dren what  their  pigs  need  to  develop  fat.  For 
example,  the  farmer  separates  from  milk  the 
muscle-making  and  brain-feeding  nitrates  and 
phosphates,  and  gives  them  to  his  pigs  in  the 
form  of  buttermilk,  while  the  fattening  carbo- 
nates he  gives  to  his  children  in  butter.  He  sifts 
out  the  bran  and  outer  crust  from  the  wheat, 
which  contains  the  nitrates  and  phosphates,  and 
gives  them  also  to  his  pigs  and  cattle,  while  the 
fine  flour,  containing  little  else  than  heating  car- 
bonates, he  gives  to  his  children.  Cheese,  which 
contains  the  concentrated  nutriment  of  milk,  is 
seldom  seen  on  our  tables,  while  butter,  which 
contains  not  a particle  of  food  for  brain  or  mus- 
cle, is  on  every  table  at  all  times  of  day. 

To  supply  this  deficiency  in  practical  science, 
and  to  correct  these  erroneous  and  dangerous 
habits  of  society,  is  the  object  of  this  treatise. 

A.  J.  B. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Apoplexy 390 

Apples  . . 821 

Appetite  . . . . . • . . . . 417 

Allspice  . . • 305 

Alcohol 69,  216,  218,  266,  268 

Animal  Food  . • • • • ...  75,  378 

Acidulous  Drinks 236,  247 

Analysis  of  Food  ....  . 24,  49,  68,  120,  123 

Acids 236,  247 

Aromatic  Drinks  ....  ....  214 

Active  Animals  take  Phosphorus 83,  85 

Active  Children 93 

Agassiz  on  Fish  Diet . 314 

Barley 104 

Banting 362,  410 

Bread-making • . . . 36,  45 

Bread 43 

Beans  and  Peas 58,  105,  121,  123,  330 

Buckwheat  . . . • . . . . . 121, 123 

Brain  — Phosphorus  in  it 86 

Butter 30,  31,  133,  134 

Beef 110,123 

Blood  — How  to  purify  it 152,  386 

Beets 74 

Beer 214 

Classification  of  Food 16,  132 

Corn 50,  103,  121,  123 

Cold  W eather  — Food  for 137 

Children  — Food  for 89,  143,  149 

Coffee 209,  213 

Cocoa  ........  . 214 

Chocolate 214 


VI 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Carrots . , . T3,  122 

Cloves * ...  303 

Capsicum « . . . 305 

Climate  — Adaptation  of  Food  to  • • • • • 367 

Cheese • . 121 

Cooking,  etc 243 

Cider 214 

Cabbage,  Cauliflower 123 

Cucumbers . . 123 

City  Hospital . ,269 

Cassia 303 

Cinnamon . . .302 

Clams 124 

Condiments *299 

Corpulence  — Cure  for 405 

Dust  of  the  Ground  — its  Elements 9 

Distilled  Spirits 234,  235 

Diet  in  Sickness  253,  269,  272 

Diet  in  Hospitals 259-264 

Dyspepsia 370 

Diseases  cured  by  Diet 361 

Digestion 374 

Elements  of  Food  in  all  Living  Things  • • . . 126 

Economy  of  eating  Natural  Food 343 

Eating  slowly,  important  . . . • • . . 422 

Eggs 124 

Eels 123 

Eating  — How  to  enjoy  it 30 

French  Bread-making 41 

Fishes 78,  124 

Farina 49 

Fermentation 251 

Fine  Flour  injurious 34,  35,  135,  271 

Fruits 321 

Farmers  — How  degenerated 326 

Food — Variety  necessary 337 

Fat  Meats  134 

Food  for  Hard  Workers 136,  323 

Flavor  important 211,29  2,  296 


CONTENTS. 


vii 

PAGE 

Food  for  Old  People -.142 

Ginger 804 

Greenland  — Food  in « 358 

Gout  — its  Cause  and  Cure  . . • • • • 307 

Haddock,  Herring,  Halibut .123 

Hernia  cured  by  Diet 302 

Heart,  Diseases  of  — How  cured 400 

Hospitals  . 259 

Impure  Blood  . . . 151 

Kingbird • • • 83 

Lean  Meat  . . 133 

Lamb 123 

Laboring  Men — Food  for 323 

Laws  of  Nutrition 280 

Lobster 129 

Lentils 59,  121,  123 

Leanness  — How  cured 414 

Man  before  and  after  tbe  Fall 286,  287 

Man  — From  the  Dust  of  the  Ground 9 

Mothers  sacrifice  their  Children 351,  398 

Meats 75,  110,  122,  123,  330 

Mental  Health  depends  on  Diet 80,  87 

Muscle-making  Elements  . 100,117 

Muscular  Power 93,  126,  327 

Milk  98,  109,  110,  123 

Mutton Ill,  123 

Moss  .*.........66 

Natural  Food 284 

Nutmeg  ....  304 

Oats 54,  104,  120,  123 

Organized  Elements  only  accepted 156 

Oysters 129 

Onions 73 

Phosphates  in  Food  promote  Vital  Action  . . . . 318 

Parents  — Besponsibility  of 347-349 

Peas 58,  121,  123 

Preadamite  Preparations 10,  167,  168 

Poisons 158,  166 

Prize-fighters 323 


viii  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Precocious  Children, . . 89 

Parsnips ....  73 

Pepper . . 305 

Phosphorus  and  Phosphates  . • • . , . 16,  18,  38 

Pork  . '76,  78,  123 

Rations  for  Soldiers,  etc Ill, 11 2,  115 

Rye 49,121,123 

Reptiles  .....  . . . . 128 

Rice 55,  121,  123 

Sago .65 

Sedentary  People  — Food  for  • . . . . . 352 

Summer  — Food  for . .367 

Sugar  68 

Sea-weed 65 

Starch 61 

Soups 245 

Salt 296 

Superfine  Flour 29 

Southern  Corn 50,  103,  120,  123 

State  Prison 113 

Sick  Room  to  be  made  pleasant 277 

Thinking  men  — Food  for  . . . . . . .313 

Teeth,  as  affected  by  Food 394 

Tapioca 64 

Turnips 73,  108 

Tea 201,  205,  212 

Tape-worm 282 

Turtle  • .128 

Tables  of  Analyses 120-124 

Vegetable  Food  — Effects  of 79 


Winter  — Food  for  357 

Water 167,  183 

Wines  233 


THE 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  EATim 


The  Human  Body:  Its  Wants  and  Resources. 

‘‘  And  the  Lord  God  formed  man  of  the  dust  of  the  ground.” 

This  statement,  incomprehensible  to  the  human  mind 
as  it  is,  is  most  beautifully  confirmed  by  chemical 
analysis.  At  least  it  is  proved,  that  the  elements  of  the 
human  system  and  the  elements  of  the  soil,  taken  any- 
where on  the  surface  of  the  earth,  from  the  equator  to 
the  poles,  are  identical;  and  it  is  also  proved  that  the 
''  grass,  the  herb  yielding  seed,  and  the  fruit-tree  yield- 
ing fruit  after  his  kind,”  which  the  earth  brought  forth 
before  man  was  made,  all  are  endowed  with  power  to 
lake  from  the  soil  these  elements,  one  by  one,  and  fit 
them  to  be  received  and  appropriated  directly  to  the 
supply  of  the  human  system,  or  indirectly  accomplish 
the  same  purpose  by  being  first  appropriated  by  the 
^ beast  of  the  field  and  the  fowl  of  the  air,”  and  then 
in  their  flesh  to  furnish  these  necessary  elements  to  man. 

Geological  evidence  is  conclusive  that  man  was  not 
made  till  this  whole  arrangement  was  perfected,  so  th^t 

T9) 


10 


THE  PEEADAMITE  EAETH. 


wherever  he  chooses  to  live, — in  Africa  or  Greenland, — 
he  finds  at  hand  food  adapted  to  his  wants  in  the  climate 
in  which  he  finds  himself.  But  when  we  attempt  to 
trace  the  process  by  which  this  complicated  and  beaU’ 
tiful  arrangement  was  made  for  man,  we  are  lost  in 
wonder  and  admiration.  The  mineral  elements,  which 
constitute  the  great  mass  of  the  surface  of  the  earth, 
all  came  originally  from  solid  rock,  and  must  have 
been  produced  by  the  slow  process  of  disintegration,  by 
which,  by  the  action  of  heat,  cold,  and  water,  particle 
by  particle  it  accumulated,  age  after  age,  till  the  g^’eat 
mass  was  formed  which  should  afterwards  become  the 
place  of  deposit  for  water,  salt,  coal,  &c.,  which  man 
must  have,  and  which  also  furnishes  the  fourteen  differ- 
ent minerals  which  were  to  make  a part  of  the  human 
system. 

And  then  ages  of  time  more  must  have  been  required 
to  produce  the  organic  elements,  which  were  formed  by 
the  growth  and  decay  of  plants  and  trees,  which  grew 
one  after  another,  as  the  appropriate  elements  of  soil 
were  accumulated,  and  gave  way  in  turn  for  more  per- 
fect vegetation,  till  organic  elements  had  accumulated 
in  sufficient  quantity  to  supply  the  surface  of  the  wliole 
earth  with  all  that  should  be  needed  for  the  composition 
and  repair  of  the  human  system. 

Then  other  ages  still  were  required  to  float  these 
crudely  mixed  elements  over  the  face  of  the  earth,  and 
60  intimately  mix  them  that  some  portion  of  every  ele- 
ment necessary  should  be  f^und  in  every  foot  of  soil  on 
the  face  of  the  earth. 


PREPAKATION  OF  THE  EARTH  FOR  MAN.  11 

And  after  all  this  preparation  the  world  was  not  fitted 
for  man  till  ages  more  of  time  were  consumed  in  raising 
the  hills  and  the  mountains,  so  that  the  ocean  might 
be  formed  and  dry  land  appear,  and  mists,  condensed 
into  rain  and  dews,  be  collected  in  brooks  and  rivers, 
to  carry  the  waters  back  to  the  ocean,  to  be  again 
evaporated,  and  a supply  be  insured,  and  the  atmos- 
phere prepared  with  its  due  proportion  of  oxygen  and 
nitrogen.  And  when  all  the  fourteen  necessary  ele- 
ments were  prepared  in  the  water,  and  the  atmosphere, 
and  the  soil,  and  laws  instituted  by  which  they  should  be 
forever  at  his  command  and  forever  perpetuated,  then 
man  was  made ; and  then,  that  he  might  never  fail  to 
be  supplied  with  everything  he  should  need,  God  gave 
him  "dominion  over  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and  over  the 
fowl  of  the  air,  and  over  every  living  thing  that  moveth 
upon  the  earth,”  which,  with  " every  herb  bearing  seed 
which  is  upon  the  face  of  all  the  earth,  and  every  tree 
in  which  is  the  fruit  of  a tree  yielding  seed,”  should  all 
contain  the  necessary  elements,  so  that  any  one  of  them 
would  sustain  life. 

Having  thus  bountifully  provided  for  every  contin- 
gency of  climate  or  circumstance,  he  gave  man  a test 
by  which  he  could  select  that  which  would  be  appropri- 
ate and  reject  that  which  would  be  injurious  — that 
article  which  contained  the  proper  elements  rightly 
organized  and  adapted  to  his  condition  at  any  time, 
the  appetite  would  demand  and  the  palate  and  stomach 
receive  gratefully  and  pleasantly  ; while  that  which  was 
not  organized  according  to  this  plan,  or  had  afterwards 


12  THE  TASTE  A GUARDIAN  OF  THE  SYSTEM. 


become  disorganized,  or  contained  the  wrong  elements, 
or  the  right  elements  in  wrong  proportions,  should 
oflPend  the  taste,  and  be  rejected  with  disgust ; or,  if 
forced  into  the  stomach,  should  cause  an  excitement,  by 
efforts  to  get  rid  of  it,  which  would  be  more  or  less 
poisonous  or  injurious  according  to  the  degree  of  harm 
which  it  was  adapted  to  do  the  system.  For  example, 
sugar  contains  important  elements  rightly  organized  to 
supply  the  system  with  requisite  heat,  and  it  is  pleasant 
to  the  healthy  palate,  and  gratefully  received  in  proper 
quantities  by  the  stomach  when  needed ; but  alcohol, 
which  is  sugar  decomposed,  and  which  contains  the 
same  elements  in  the  same  proportions,  is  offensive 
to  the  natural  taste,  and  if  forced  on  the  stomach, 
produces  an  immediate  excitement,  which  is  injuri- 
ous and  poisonous  to  the  organs  engaged  in  the  effort 
to  resist  it. 

Fish,  which  was  prepared  with  all  the  elements  rightly 
organized,  and  in  right  proportions  to  be  appropriate 
food,  is  pleasant  to  the  taste  when  properly  cooked, 
and  is  gratefully  received  and  quickly  digested ; but 
being  exposed  to  a hot  sun  for  a single  hour,  and  disor- 
ganization or  decomposition  commencing,  it  becomes 
disgusting  and  poisonous. 

Phosphorus,  which  is  valuable  and  necessary  food  for 
the  brain,  cfec.,  when  organized  in  fish,  or  peas,  or  oat- 
meal, &c.,  is,  when  once  disorganized,  a virulent  poison  ; 
and  thus  in  physiology  as  in  ethics,  "in  keeping  the 
commandments  there  is  great  reward.”  To  obey  the 
simple  laws  of  our  being  is  to  enjoy  eating,  and  the 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  EATING. 


13 


health,  vigor,  and  happiness  which  come  from  the  appro- 
priate exercise  of  all  our  functions  and  faculties ; while 
to  seek  to  enhance  our  enjoyment  by  unnatural  combina- 
tions of  food  is  to  clog  the  appetite,  to  lose  all  real 
enjoyment  in  eating,  and  to  burden  the  system  with 
untold  miseries,  to  be  suifered  through  life  and  transmit- 
(cd  to  children  ” to  the  third  and  fourth  generation.” 

If  science  in  farming  is  important,  as  it  is  proved 
to  be,  may  not  science  in  eating  he  more  important  f 
The  scientific  farmer  analyzes  his  soil,  and  ascertains 
what  elements  it  contains  ; then  analyzes  his  grains  and 
vegetables,  and  ascertains  what  elements  they  require ; 
then  analyzes  the  different  manures  and  composts,  and 
ascertains  which  contains,  in  the  best  combination,  the 
elements  to  be  supplied.  This  gives  him  an  immense 
advantage  over  the  unscientific  farmer,  who,  not  know- 
ing the  requirements  of  his  soil,  wastes  his  compost  by 
using  many  materials  not  necessary,  and  too  large  a 
supply  of  elements  that  may  be  necessary,  while  many 
important  elements  will  be  omitted  altogether. 

I propose,  upon  the  same  principles,  to  give  an  analy- 
sis of  the  human  system,  — show  the  elements  it  con- 
tains, and  the  necessity  for  their  constant  supply,  — and 
tlien  to  give  an  analysis  of  the  food  which  Nature  has 
furnished  for  the  supply  of  these  necessities  ; and  I think 
it  can  be  readily  proved  that  as  the  scientific  farmer 
has  advantages  in  point  of  economy,  the  scientific  eater 
has  not  , only  advantages  in  economy  of  living,  but  vastly 
greater  advantages  in  the  enjoyment  of  health  and  hap- 
piness. And  as  a matter  of  economy,  it  can  be  shown 


14 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY. 


that  in  all  our  large  cities  more  than  half  the  expense  of 
food  is  lost  by  want  of  adjustment  of  the  proportions  of 
requisite  elements,  just  as  all  the  expense  of  guano  would 
be  lost  on  the  land  already  supplied  with  phosphorus  and 
ammonia. 


Chemical  Composition  of  the  Human  Body. 

The  human  body  is  composed  of  the  following  ele- 
ments, all  of  which  are  found  also  in  the  food  provided 
by  nature,  or  in  air  or  water,  and  all  must  be  supplied, 
day  by  day,  or  some  bad  results  are  sure  to  follow : — 

Oxygen,  a gas,  in  quantity  sufficient  to  occupy  lb.  oz.  gr. 

a space  equal  to  750  cubic  feet,  . . . .Ill  0 0 

Hydrogen,  a gas,  in  quantity  sufficient  to  occupy 
3000  feet,  which,  with  oxygen,  constitutes 
water,  the  weight  of  the  two  indicating  nearly 
the  necessary  amount  of  water,  ....  14  0 0 

Carbon,  constituting  fat,  and  used  also  for  fuel 

to  create  animal  heat, 21  0 0 

Nitrogen,  which  constitutes  the  basis  of  the 
muscles  and  solid  tissues,  and  which  is  sup- 
plied by  that  part  of  food  which  we  shall 

denominate  Nitrates, 3 8 0 

Phosphorus,  the  physical  source  of  vitality,  and 
the  most  important  of  the  mineral  elements, 
will  represent  the  whole  class  which  we  shall 


denominate  the  Phosphates, 112190 

Calcium,  the  metallic  base  of  lime,  which  is 

the  base  of  bones, . . 2 0 0 

Fluorine,  found  combined  in  small  quantities  in 

bones,  02  0 

Sulphur, 02210 


COMBINATION  OF  ELEMENTS  IN  THE  SYSTEM.  15 


Chlorine,  constituting,  with  sodium,  common 

salt,  found  in  the  blood, 0 2 47 

Sodium,  the  base  of  all  the  salts  of  soda,  . . 0 2 116 

Iron,  which  is  supposed  to  give  color  to  the 

blood,  0 0 100 

Potassium,  the  base  of  all  the  salts  of  potash,  . 0 0 290 

Magnesium,  the  base  of  magnesia  and  magne- 
sian salts,  ...  0 0 12 

Silicon,  the  base  of  silex,  which  is  found  in  the 

hair,  teeth,  and  nails, 0 0 2 


The  elements  of  a man  weighing  . . . .154  lbs. 


Proximate  Principles  in  the  Human  Body. 


1.  Water,  composed  of  oxygen  and  hydrogen 

gases,  as  in  the  preceding  table  of  ulti- 
mate elements, 

2.  Gelatine,  of  which  the  walls  of  the  cells  and 

many  tissues  of  the  body  are  composed,  . 

3.  Fat,  which  constitutes  the  adipose  tissue,  . 

4.  Phosphate  of  Lime,  forming  the  principal 

part  of  the  earthy  matter  of  the  bones,  . 

5.  Carbonate  of  Lime,  also  a part  of  the  com- 

position of  bone, 

6.  Albumen,  found  in  the  blood  and  in  almost 

every  organ, 

7.  Fibrin,  forming  the  muscles  and  the  clot  of 

the  blood, 

8.  Fluoride  of  Calcium,  found  in  the  bones,  . 

found  in  the  brain' 

9.  Phosphate  of  Soda,  and  nerves,  and  con- 

* stituting  the  physical 

10.  Phosphate  of  Potash,  elements  of  vitality 
or  vital  energy,  . . 


lb. 


Ill 

15 

12 

5 

1 

4 

4 

0 

0 

0 


oz.  gr. 


0 0 

0 0 
0 0 

13  0 

0 0 

3 0 

4 3 

3 0 

0 400 

0 100 


16 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  FOOD. 


11.  Phosphate  of  Magnesia,  found  with  Phos- 

phate of  Lime  in  the  bones,  ....  0 0 75 

12.  Chloride  of  Sodium  (common  salt),  in  the 


blood, 0 376 

13.  Sulphate  of  Soda,  in  the  blood,  ....  01  170 

14.  Carbonate  of  Soda,  in  the  blood  and  bones,  0 1 72 

15.  Sulphate  of  Potash,  in  the  blood,  * ...  0 0 400 

16.  Peroxide  of  Iron,  in  the  blood  (and  sup- 

posed to  furnish  the  coloring  matter),  . 0 9 150 

17.  Silica, 00  3 


154  0 0 

Classification  of  Food. 

The  fourteen  elements  and  seventeen  combinations 
of  these  elements  are  all  being  consumed  every  day, 
and,  therefore,  must  be  supplied  in  food,  or  in  the 
atmosphere,  or  in  water.  Food  may  be  divided  into 
three  classes.  That  class  which  supplies  the  lungs 
with  fuel,  and  thus  furnishes  heat  to  the  system,  and 
supplies  fat  or  adipose  substance,  &c.,  we  shall  call 
Carbonates,  carbon  being  the  principal  element;  that 
which  supplies  the  waste  of  muscles,  we  shall  call 
Nitrates,^  nitrogen  being  the  principal  element;  and 
that  which  supplies  the  bones,  and  the  brain,  and 
the  nerves,  and  gives  vital  power,  both  muscular  and 
mental,  we  shall  call  the  Phosphates,  phosphorus  being 
the  principal  element.  These  last  might  be  subdivided 
into  the  fixed  and  the  soluble  phosphates,  — the  fixed 

♦ The  terms  Nitrates,  Carbonates,  and  Phosphates,  are  not  strictly 
in  accordance  with  chemical  nomenclature,  these  terms  being  gener- 
ally applied  to  salts  only;  but  no  other  single  words  would  give  an 
idea  of  the  predominant  element.  See  Appendix  B.  page  343, 


WASTE  AND  SUPPLY. 


17 


being  a combination  principally  with  lime  to  form  the 
bones,  and  the  soluble  being  combinations  with  potash 
and  soda,  to  work  the  brain  and  nerves ; but  our 
analyses  as  yet  are  too  imperfect  to  allow  a subdivision, 
and  as  all  the  mineral  elements  are  more  or  less  com- 
bined with  each  other,  and  all  reside  together  in  arti- 
cles of  food,  we  shall  include  all  mineral  elements 
under  the  term  Phosphates. 

The  waste,  and  consequently  the  supply,  of  these 
three  classes  of  elements,  is  very  different,  four  times 
as  much  carbonaceous  food  being  required  as  nitroge- 
nous, and  of  the  phosphates  not  more  than  two  per 
cent,  of  the  carbonates.  Altogether,  the  waste  of  these 
principles  will  average  in  a man  of  moderate  size,* 
with  moderate  heat,  more  than  one  pound  in  a day, 
varying  very  much  according  to  the  amount  of  exer- 
cise and  the  temperature  in  which  he  lives.  These 
elements  must  all  be  supplied  in  vegetable  or  animal 
food,  not  one  being  allowed  to  become  a part  of  the 
system  unless  it  has  been  first  organized  with  other 
elements  of  food,  in  some  vegetable,  or  in  water,  or  the 
atmosphere ; but  being  appropriated  by  some  animal, 
remain  organized  and  adapted  to  the  human  system, 
eo  that  animal  and  vegetable  food  contain  the  same 
elements  in  the  same  proportions  and  nearly  the  same 
chemical  combinations,  and  are  equally  adapted  to 
supply  all  necessary  elements. 


2 


* Of  solid  matter. 


18 


THE  CLASSES  OF  FOOD. 


In  Animal  Food, 


^The  Carbonates  are  "I 
furnished  in  . . / 


The  Nitrates  in  . 


Fat. 

Albumen, 
Fibrin,  and 
Casein. 


In  Vegetable  Food,  ^ 


The  Carbonates  are 
furnished  in  . . 


The  Nitrates  in  . . 


'I  Sugar, 

> Starch,  and 
J a little  Fat. 

} Gluten, 
Albumen, 
and  Casein. 


The  Phosphates,  in  both  animal  and  vegetable  food, 
are  found  inseparably  connected  with  the  nitrates,  none 
being  found  in  any  of  the  carbonates,  and  generally  in 
the  proportion  of  from  two  to  three  per  cent,  of  all 
the  principles  in  vegetable,  and  from  three  to  five  in 
animal  food. 

The  Carbonates  of  both  animal  and  vegetable  food 
are  chemically  alike  — fat,  sugar,  and  starch,  all  being 
composed  of  carbon,  oxygen,  and  hydrogen,  and  in 
about  the  same  chemical  combinations  and  propor- 
tions. 

The  Nitrates,  also  Albumen,  Gluten,  Fibrin,  and 
Casein,  are  alike  in  chemical  combinations  and  ele- 
ments, being  composed  of  nitrogen,  oxygen,  and 
hydrogen,  and  a little  carbon  not  digestible. 


EACH  OKGAN  SELECTS  ITS  OWN  FOOD. 


19 


The  Wants  of  the  Human  System,  and  the  Reason 
for  them. 

In  the  foregoing  tables  are  found  fourteen  different 
elements  of  which  the  human  system  is  composed,  not 
one  of  which  is  permanently  fixed  in  the  system,  but 
each,  after  performing  the  duties  assigned  it  for  a time, 
shorter  or  longer,  according  to  the  nature  of  those 
duties,  becomes  effete,  and  gives  place  to  other  particles 
of  the  same  elements,  which  must  be  supplied  in  food. 
Each  organ  requires  different  elements,  and  has  the 
power  of  taking  such  as  are  required  from  the  mass  of 
elements  circulated  together  in  the  blood,  and  of  reject- 
ing all  other  elements ; and  while  these  fourteen  ele- 
ments, all  having  been  organized  in  some  plant  or 
vegetable,  are  supplied  as  they  are  wanted,  peace  and 
harmony  prevail  in  the  system,  and  perfect  health  is 
enjoyed ; but  let  any  other  elements  enter  the  circula- 
tion and  an  excitement  is  produced,  and  each  organ 
makes  an  effort  to  reject  them.  Take  alcohol,  for 
example,  and  the  stomach  is  first  excited  and  heated 
by  efforts  to  expel  it.  It  is  then  thrown  into  the 
circulation  so  as  to  be  expelled  by  the  lungs,  or  skin, 
or  kidneys,  and  the  whole  system  becomes  excited, 
especially  the  brain,  in  efforts  to  eject  this  enemy  to 
all  its  functions. 

Phosphorus,  iron,  and  all  other  disorganized  sub- 
stances, whether  elements  of  the  human  system  or 
not,  are  thus  rejected  with  more  or  less  excitement, 


20  DISOKGANIZED  ELEMENTS  AEE  EEJECTED. 

according  to  their  capacity  for  harming  the  system ; 
and  thus  can  be  clearly  read  the  lessons  of  nature, 
teaching  us  to  keep  out  of  the  stomach  and  lungs 
everything  but  these  fourteen  elements,  and  to  admit 
them  only  as  they  are  organized  and  prepared  as  in 
articles  of  natural  food  in  Nature’s  laboratory  — tlie 
Vegetable  World.  But  these  elements  are  required 
in  very  different  amounts,  according  to  the  amount  of 
exercise  of  the  different  faculties  and  the  temperature 
of  the  atmosphere  in  which  we  live. 

And  here  we  have  the  foundation  for  a scientific 
adaptation  of  food  to  our  different  employments  in  life. 
The  man  who  is  chopping  wood  in  an  atmosphere  at 
zero,  and  he  who  sits  still,  or  uses  only  his  brain,  in 
a room  at  the  temperature  of  seventy  degrees,  con- 
sume very  different  elements  in  very  different  propor- 
tions, and  therefore  require  different  elements  of  food. 
The  one  needs  the  muscle-producing  nitrogenate  ele- 
ments and  the  heat-producing  carbonates ; while  the 
other  needs  very  few  nitrogenates,  and  only  carbo- 
nates enough  to  supply  the  breathing  operations  with 
fuel ; but  he  needs  more  of  the  phosphates  to  keep  the 
brain  in  working  order,  and  we  shall  find  on  inquiry 
that  nature  has  furnished  food  just  adapted  to  these 
and  other  conditions  of  life,  and  shall  find  also  tliat, 
following  these  suggestions  of  nature,  we  shall  obtain 
a rich  reward,  both  in  the  enjoyment  of  health  and  in 
the  enjoyment  of  eating. 


HOW  THE  ELEMENTS  ARE  SUPPLIED. 


21 


Resources  for  Supplying  the  Wants  of  the  Human 
System, 

The  soil  on  the  surface  of  the  whole  earth  constitutes 
the  great  reservoir  of  crude  elements  of  the  human 
body,  and  man  is  kept  alive  as  he  was  made  by  ma- 
terials obtained  from  " the  dust  of  the  ground,”  but, 
as  has  already  been  intimated,  these  elements  cannot 
be  made  to  enter  the  composition  of  the  system  till 
they  are  organized  — or,  being  organized,  are  eaten 
by  some  animal,  and  retaining  their  organization,  are 
adapted  still,  in  the  flesh  of  the  animal,  to  supply  the 
demand  of  the  human  system. 

These  elements,  becoming  effete,  are  excreted  from 
all  animals  that  eat  them,  and,  being  then  decomposed, 
enter  again  into  the  soil,  to  be  reorganized  in  other 
vegetables ; and  thus,  since  these  laws  were  instituted, 
no  elements  have  been  lost  and  none  created  — indeed, 
it  is  no  more  in  the  power  of  man  to  annihilate  an 
element  of  matter  than  to  create  one.  He  can  disor- 
ganize elements, — as  he  does  in  converting  sugar  into 
alcohol,  but  he  only  produces  carbonic  acid  gas,  &c., 
— which  are  again  taken  up  and  reorganized  in  some 
vegetable,  and  are  reconverted  into  sugar  ; thus  entering 
again  their  natural  circle  to  go  their  perpetual  rounds. 

Every  crop  of  corn,  or  potatoes,  or  grass,  or  vege- 
tables deprives  the  soil  of  all  the  elements  of  which 
these  crops  are  composed,  and,  if  carried  off  and  sold, 
impoverishes  the  soil  proportionately.  This  the  farmers 
understand,  and  are  therefore  careful  to  supply,  vdtb 


22 


LAWS  OF  ANIMAL  LIFE. 


the  natural  excretions  of  animals,  the  elements  thus 
removed,  or  with  decomposed  animal,  vegetable,  and 
mineral  substances  containing  them ; and,  so  perfect  has 
this  knowledge  of  agricultural  chemistry  become,  that  it 
is  known  just  what  elements  are  needed  after  each  crop, 
and  just  how  these  elements  can  be  supplied  — vege- 
tables using  only  disorganized  elements,  while  animals 
use  only  organized  elements  — a beautiful  provision  of 
nature.  It  is  known  also  what  food  and  management 
will  best  develop  our  animals,  and  make  them  subserve 
our  interests. 

Scientific  laws  are  applied  also  to  the  care  of  our 
horses,  to  make  them  beautiful,  strong,  swift,  healthy, 
and  docile ; and  to  our  cattle,  and  pigs,  and  hens,  to 
enable  them  to  furnish  us  with  their  invaluable  contri- 
butions to  the  necessaries  and  luxuries  of  life ; and  our 
farmers  know  just  what  food  to  give  them  in  order  best 
to  develop  these  resources.  We  have  also  books  on 
bees  and  canary  birds,  teaching  what  they  must  have  and 
what  they  must  not  have  in  order  to  be  healthy.  But 
our  children,  without  whom  all  these  other  blessings 
would  be  of  little  value,  are  left  to  die,  or  grow  up  if 
they  are  sufficiently  tough,  without  the  application  of 
science,  or  even  common  sense,  to  their  care  or  cul- 
ture. What  two  mothers  can  be  found  to  agree  iu 
regard  to  the  diet  or  regimen  of  their  children  ? Who 
studies  as  much  to  learn  how  to  feed  himself  as  how  to 
feed  his  cattle,  or  even  his  pet  dog?  But  are  we  not 
better  then  they?  Did  God  give  laws  for  feeding  them 
and  no  laws  for  feeding  us  and  our  children  ? 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  WHEAT. 


23 


Wheat— its  Origin  and  Chemical  Composition, 

The  plant  producing  wheat  belongs  to  the  order  of 
Grasses,  and  undoubtedly  came  originally  from  some 
grass  whose  seeds  are  so  unlike  the  grains  of  wheat,  as 
developed  after  centuries  of  cultivation,  as  not  now  to 
be  recognized.*  It  is  not  found  wild  in  any  part  of  the 
world,  but  like  the  other  grains,  and  roots,  and 
leguminous  and  succulent  vegetables  and  fruits,  has 
been  changed  from  the  "herb  of  the  field,”  which,  after 
the  fall,  was  the  basis,  or  emblem  at  least,  of  all  the 
resources  that  were  left  to  man  ; so  that  almost  literally, 
from  the  "herb  of  the  field,”  by  the  sweat  of  his  brow, 
he  has  obtained  not  only  his  necessary  food,  but  all 
the  choicest  luxuries  which  he  now  enjoys.  Wheat  is 
the  most  extensively  cultivated  and  the  most  generally 
used  of  any  of  the  grains  ; indeed,  it  is  grown  all  over  the 
world,  but  it  fiourishes  best  between  the  parallels  of 
twenty-five  and  sixty  degrees  of  latitude.  The  varieties 
of  wheat  are  very  great,  over  four  hundred  being  described 
by  the  French  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  and  it 
furnishes  the  principal  food  of  more  people  than  any  other 
grain.  Of  these  varieties  some  have  sharp  awns  or 
beards,  and  some  are  beardless.  The  grains  of  some  are 
red,  some  brown,  and  some  white.  Some  contain  more 
carbonaceous  elements,  and  are  therefore  better  adapted 
to  the  supply  of  heat  than  others.  Some  have  more 
nitrogenous  materials,  and  therefore  are  better  adapted 
to  give  muscular  power.  Some  have  more  phosphates, 
and  therefore  give  more  mental  and  nervous  energy. 


24 


ANALYSIS  OF  WHEAT. 


But  the  average  distribution  of  these  elements  more 
nearly  corresponds  with  the  requirements  of  the  human 
system,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  than  any  other 
grain ; and  life  and  health  can  be  continued  on  wheat 
alone  for  an  indefinite  period,  with  good  water  and 
good  air.  Wheat  will,  therefore,  be  the  standard  by 
which  to  compare  other  articles  of  food.  ' 


Analysis  of  Wheat. 

The  average  Composition  of  one  hundred  Parts, 


Water,  .... 

Gluten,  .... 

. . . 12.8 

Albumen,  . . . 

. . . 1.8 

Starch,  .... 

. . . 59.7 

Sugar,  .... 

...  5.5 

Gum, 

. . . 1.7 

Fat, 

. . . 1.2 

Fibre, 

. . . 1.7 

Minerals,  . . . 

. . . 1.6 

Water, 14.0 

Nitrates,  or  muscle- 
makers,  14.6 


Carbonates,  or  heat 
' and  fat-producers,  69.8 
Phosphates,  or  food 
for  brains,  nerves, 

&c 1.6 


These  principles  are  made  up  of  the  fourteen  ele- 
ments which  constitute  the  human  system,  and  the 
proportion  of  the  muscle-making,  the  heat-producing, 
and  brain  and  nerve-feeding  elements,  are  about  the 
average  proportions  required,  in  moderate  weather, 
with  moderate  exercise  of  physical  and  mental  facul- 
ties. But  the  distribution  of  these  elements  is  not 
equal  in  all  parts  of  the  grain ; and  this,  we  shall  see, 
is  very  important  to  be  understood,  as  ignorance  of  this 
fact  has  led  to  the  sacrifice  of  the  most  important  ele- 
ments. This  we  can  understand  by  reference  to  the 
following  wood  cuts  : Fig.  1 being  the  natural  size  of 


MUSCLE-MAKING  FOOD  LOST  FROM  FLOUR.  25 


Nvheat,  and  Fig.  2 being  magnified  to  three  or  foui 
diameters. 


a.  Nitrates,  or  Muscle-makers. 
h.  Carbonates,  or  Heat  or  Fat-producers, 
c.  Phosphates,  or  Food  for  Brains  and  Nerves. 

These  drawings  are  intended  to  show  the  position 
and  the  relative  quantity  of  the  three  important  prin- 
ciples— the  muscle-makers,  occupying  or  constituting 
a crust  around  the  outside  of  the  grain,  being  from 
twelve  to  fifteen  per  cent,  of  the  whole  grain ; the  heat 
or  fat-producers,  occupying  the  centre,  being  from 
sixty  to  seventy  per  cent.  ; and  the  food  for  the  brains 
and  nerves,  occupying  the  chit  or  germ,  being  from  one 
and  a half  to  three  per  cent.  The  limits  of  these  prin- 
ciples are  not,  however,  as  circumscribed  in  the  grain 
as  appears  by  the  drawing,  a small  per  cent,  of  nitrates 
being  mixed  with  the  carbonates,  and  a part  of  the 
phosphates  being  mixed  with  the  nitrates ; indeed,  the 
phosphate  of  lime,  which  goes  to  form  bones,  is  almost 
all  mixed  with  the  nitrates  in  the  crust ; while  the  solu- 
ble phosphates,  which  feed  the  brain  and  give  mental 
vigor,  are  mostly  found  in  the  germ ; and  this  arrange- 


Wheat.  Southern  Com.  Flint  Cora, 


26 


BEAIN  FOOD  LOST  FROM  FLOUR. 


merit  is  found  to  exist  in  all  the  grains  and  all  the  seeds 
of  grasses, — the  smallest  seed  under  the  microscope 
showing  the  same  organization  as  that  exhibited  in  the 
cut  of  wheat,  — the  smaller  seeds,  however,  containing 
much  larger  proportions  of  the  nitrates  and  phosphates, 
being  intended  for  the  support  of  birds  of  great  activity. 
The  practical  importance  of  understanding  this  arrange- 
ment will  be  better  understood  by  reference  to  a drawing 
of  the  transverse  section  of  a grain  of  wheat  magnified 
to  eighteen  diameters  from  the  section  in  Fig.  1. 


Fig.  6. 


To  undv^TStand  how  large  a part  of  the  phosphates 
and  nitrates  is  lost  in  bolting  to  make  superfine  flour, 
it  will  be  necessary  to  explain  that  gluten,  which  is  the 
principal  nitrogenous  element  in  wheat,  is  tenacious  or 
adhesive ; while  the  starch,  the  carbonaceous  element, 
is  globular  and  crumbly  ; the  consequence  is,  that  in 
grinding,  the  glutinous  crust  is  separated  in  flakes,  and 
is  sifted  out,  leaving  the  flour  composed  almost  entirely 
of  starch,  which  contains  no  food  for  brain  or  muscle. 


IMPORTANCE  OF  SUPPLYING  LOST  ELEMENTS.  27 


The  outer  layers  of  the  wheat,  constituting  twelve  or 
fourteen  per  cent,  of  the  whole  grain,  which  are  repre- 
sented by  the  darkened  lines,  a,  in  the  plates,  contain 
a large  part  of  all  the  muscle-making  elements  of  the 
wheat ; and,  being  adhesive,  it  is  easily  separated  from 
the  more  crumbly  particles  of  the  starch  below,  which 
is  represented  by  the  white  part  within  the  outer  lines, 
h;  consequently,  it  is  separated  from  it  in  grinding  and 
bolting,  and  much  of  it  is  lost  with  the  bran.  The 
germ  also,  which  contains,  with  the  gluten,  the  soluble 
phosphates,  which  is  represented  by  the  darker  lines,  c, 
in  the  drawing,  is  also  tenacious,  and  much  of  it  goes 
off  with  the  bran.  The  insoluble  or  bone-making 
phosphorus,  being  mixed  with  the  nitrates,  is  also 
lost.  Nothing,  therefore,  can  be  more  clearly  proved 
/ than  that  in  using  perfectly  white,  superfine  flour,  we 
sacrifice  the  most  important  elements  of  the  wheat 
merely  to  please  the  eye.  And  yet  this  is  the  kind  of 
flour  which  probably  makes  more  than  nine  tenths  of 
all  the  bread  in  American  cities,  besides  the  large 
amount  used  for  cakes,  puddings,  and  pastry. 

The  farmer  knows  that  wheat  will  not  grow  in  soil 
out  of  which  is  taken  any  of  the  essential  elements  that 
constitute  that  grain ; and  he  either  supplies  these  ele« 
ments,  or  he  makes  no  attempt  to  raise  wheat.  Yet 
how  many  of  our  citizens  are  attempting  to  raise  chil-/ 
dren  on  superfine  flour,  and  butter,  and  sugar,  neither) 
of  which  contains  food  for  the  muscles,  or  bones,  or  ) 
brains,  sufficient  to  keep  these  organs  from  actual/ 
starvation ! 


28  THE  EVILS  OF  EATING  DEFECTIVE  FOOD. 


Every  one  also  who  keeps  fowls  knows,  that  to  get 
a supply  of  eggs,  and  raise  chickens,  hens  must  be 
supplied  with  other  food  than  Indian  corn  meal,  which 
contains  too  many  of  the  carbonates,  or  fattening  ele- 
ments, and  too  few  of  the  phosphates  and  nitrates,  to 
supply  the  shells  of  the  eggs  or  muscles  of  the  future 
chick.  They  are  therefore  fed  with  ground  bones  and 
egg-shells  for  the  one,  and  meat  or  insects  for  the  other 
purpos^  But  how  many  expectant  and  nursing  moth- 
r ers,  not  knowing  or  considering  their  responsibilities, 
live  on  superfine  flour  bread,  and  butter,  and  puddings, 
and  sweet  sauce,  and  cakes,  and  confectionery,  which 
contain  little  else  than  the  three  articles  of  food  before 
mentioned,  and  in  which  are  only  found  the  carbonates, 
or  fat  and  heat-producing  elements,  and  only  very  little 
Vof  food  for  the  muscles  and  tissues,  or  bones,  or  brain  I 
The  results  are  inevitable.  One  half  of  the  children 
die  before  they  are  five  years  old,  and  many  before  that 
age  have,  for  the  want  of  the  phosphate  of  lime,  defec- 
tive teeth  and  soft  and  rickety  bones.  If  they  live  to 
grow  up  under  the  same  disregard  to  their  natural 
requirements,  their  muscles  are  poorly  developed,  their 
tissues  are  weak,  and  susceptible  to  disease  for  the 
want  of  the  nitrogenous  elements  of  food ; their  bones, 
and  brains,  and  nerves  are  weak,  and  subject  to  disease 
for  the  want  of  the  phosphates ; while,  by  over  feeding 
with  the  carbonates,  the  whole  system  is  heated  and 
excited,  and  ready  to  be  inflamed  by  the  first  spark  of 
disease ; and  the  inevitable  results  are  inflammations, 
fevers,  neuralgic  pains,  consumptions,  defective  teeth, 


CAKBONACEOUS  FOOD. 


29 


\ reactive  exhaustion,  chlorotic  weaknesses,  and  diseases 
/ and  pains  innumerable. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  arch  fiend,  who  is  represented 
as  walking  about  seeking  whom  he  may  devour,”  has 
never  devised  a more  effectual  plan  for  tormenting  and 
devouring  the  human  race  than  this. 

The  penalties  for  the  breach  of  Nature’s  laws  are 
always  severe  in  proportion  to  the  importance  of  the 
purposes  to  be  subserved  by  them,  and  they  must 
follow  the  transgression  as  effect  must  follow  the  cause. 
No  less  severe  punishments  than  those  mentioned  above 
could  be  expected  to  follow  the  utter  disregard  for  that 
wonderful  arrangement  by  which  in  a single  grain  of 
wheat  could  be  supplied  all  the  elements  necessary  for 
the  growth  or  support  of  all  the  organs  and  functions — 
an  arrangement  which  even  Infinite  Wisdom  could  not 
effect  but  by  a process  that  required  countless  ages  of 
time.  To  these  penalties  we  shall  have  occasion  to 
refer  again  when  treating  of  diet  for  the  sick. 

Butter,  Sugar,  aud  Superfine  Flour. 

The  only  articles,  the  common  use  of  which  brings 
upon  this  community  the  terrible  evils  to  which  I have 
referred,  are  fine  white  flour,  butter,  and  sugar.  These 
articles,  made  up  almost  entirely  as  they  are  of  heat- 
producing  nourishment,  are  wholesome  and  necessary 
food  to  the  extent  of  more  than  three  fourths  of  all  our 
solid  nutriment,  that  great  proportion  of  the  carbonates 
being  required  to  supply  fuel  and  fat ; but  they  contain 
eo  few  of  the  elements  that  support  the  muscles  and 


30  HOW  TO  ENJOY  EATING. 

solid  tissues,  and  so  few  that  give  us  vital  power,  that 
either  alone,  or  all  three  combined,  could  sustain  life 
only  for  a very  limited  period  — probably  not  two 
months.  These  three  important  elements  of  food  are 
found  in  abundance  combined  with  the  other  impor- 
tant elements  which  the  system  requires,  and  in  many 
they  are  found  combined  in  just  the  proportion  re- 
quired; indeed,  in  all  food  in  such  proportions  as  to 
adapt  them  to  the  different  temperatures  and  circum- 
stances in  which  we  may  be  placed ; so  that  we  have 
no  necessity,  or  even  apology,  for  separating  what  God 
has  thus  joined  together. 

Starch,  of  which  fine  white  flour  is  mostly  composed, 
is  found  in  the  entire  grain  of  wheat,  and  in  many 
other  grains  and  leguminous  seeds,  combined  with 
muscle-making  and  brain-sustaining  elements,  in  just 
the  right  proportions. 

Butter  is  found  in  milk,  also  combined  with  all  other 
necessary  elements  in  exactly  the  right  proportions ; 
and  sugar  in  vegetables  and  fruits ; and,  it  is  a fact 
that  our  relish  for,  and  enjoyment  in,  eating  these 
different  combinations  of  necessary  food  are  in  exact 
proportion  to  their  adaptedness  to  our  wants  at  the 
time  we  take  them.  But  for  the  perversion  of  oin 
appetites,  caused  by  eating  these  three  articles  in  an 
unnatural  state,  we  should  always  desire  most  what 
we  most  need,  and  could  always  eat  all  we  want 
of  what  we  best  like.  And,  even  after  our 
tastes  hare  become  ptirverted,  we  find,  on  giving 
attention  to  this  subject,  that  the  more  nearly  we 


HOW  TO  ADAPT  FOOD  TO  THE  WEATHER.  ol 

conform  to  Nature’s  requirements  in  the  selection 
of  food,  the  more  we  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  eat- 
ing; so  that  in  the  pleasures  of  the  table,  as  in  all 
other  pleasures,  they  enjoy  the  least  who  most  anx- 
iously inquire,  "Who  will  show  us  any  good?”  while 
they  enjoy  most  who  only  expect  pleasure  in  the  line 
of  duty. 

We  all  instinctively  desire,  also,  more  of  these 
heat-producing  articles  in  cold  weather  than  in  warm, 
and  eat,  without  considering  the  reasons  for  doing  so, 
much  more  of  the  fats  of  animals,  and  butter,  and 
buckwheat-cakes,  with  sirup,  in  winter  than  in  sum- 
mer; and  as  spring  opens  we  begin  to  desire  cooling 
green  vegetables  and  acid  fruits,  and  this  desire  in- 
creases till  in  very  warm  weather  we  loathe  the  food  we 
most  esteemed  in  winter ; and  if  our  appetites  fail  in 
warm  weather  it  is  because  our  housekeepers  persist 
in  supplying  us  with  the  same  fat  meats  and  the  same 
farinaceous  puddings,  with  sauce  of  butter  and  sugar, 
which  were  furnished  in  winter.  Let  our  house- 
keepers just  keep  in  mind  the  fact  that  these  articles 
only  stand  in  the  way  of  gratifying  our  tastes  and 
inclinations  in  regard  to  food,  and  they  will  find 
that  the  science  of  cooking  is  very  simple,  and  the 
wants  of  a family  are  very  easily  provided  for.  But 
W'e  need  not  abandon  either  of  these  perverted  arti- 
cles entirely.  Let  us  only  consider  how  to  correct 
the  errors  into  which  we  have  fallen,  and  use  "all  the 
creatures  of  God  which  are  good  and  not  to  be  de- 
spised,” so  as  to  make  them  contribute  to  our  health 


32 


THE  MODE  OF  ANALYZING  GEAINS. 


and  happiness.  Of  this  perverted  trio  of  good  things 
wheat  is  the  most  important,  because  most  extensively 
used,  and  by  far  the  most  valuable. 

Microscopic  Analysis  of  Wheat, 

Fig.  7. 

a.  The  outer  coatj 
or  true  bran,  com 
taining  iron,  silica, 
and  some  other  ele- 
ments required  in  the 
human  system,  and 
not  found  elsewhere 
in  the  wheat,  but 
composed  mostly  of 
indigestible  woody 
Magnified  150  diameters.  fibre,  which  is  alsO 

useful  as  waste  to  keep  the  bowels  in  action  — even  the 
outer  bran  should  therefore  be  saved,  (page  85.) 

h.  Gluten  cells,  surrounded  by  diffused  gluten  and  bound 
by  it  to  the  true  bran,  so  that  in  sifting  or  bolting  a large 
portion  is  lost.  Nine  tenths  of  all  the  muscle-making  ele- 
ments reside  in  this  coat  or  crust,  and  also  the  phosphates 
of  lime  and  soda,  of  which  bones  are  made ; the  most  of 
which  are  lost  in  fine  white  flour. 

c.  Cells  forming  the  central  mass  of  the  wheat,  composed 
mostly  of  starch,  with  a little  albumen  and  gluten  intermixed, 
and  also  some  of  the  phosphates  connected  with  the  gluten. 

Starch,  though  a valuable  element  of  food,  and  the 
principal  element  in  vegetable  food  to  keep  up  animal 
heat,  is  so  perfectly  destitute  of  the  essential  element 
for  sustaining  life,  that  living  on  that  alone,  as  proved 
by  experiment,  any  animal  will  die  in  thirty  days.  A 


DIFFERENT  METHODS  OF  ANALYSIS.  33 

glance  at  this  plate  will  enable  any  one  to  understand 
and  believe  the  estimate  of  Mege  Mouries  to  be  true, 
that  there  are  fourteen  times  as  much  of  the  phosphates 
and  nitrates  in  commercial  bran  as  in  commercial  super- 
fine flour ; ” and  this  important  fact  is  proved  by  three 
separate  and  distinct  calculations  : by  Mege  Mouries 
of  France,  by  chemical  analysis  of  the  bran  and  flour ; 
by  Dr,  A.  A.  Hayes,  of  Boston,  who  first  suggested 
the  idea  of  applying  tests  to  the  whole  grain,  showing 
the  arrangements  of  elements  as  delineated  in  Fig.  2,^ 
and  other  plates,  the  truth  of  v liich  statements  I have 
carefully  tested,  as  have  other  chemists ; and  Mr. 
Thomas  J.  Hand,  of  New  York,  an  amateur  micros- 
copist  of  great  assiduity  and  skill,  who  has  spent 
many  years  in  microscopic  observations  on  wheat, 
and  to  whom  I am  indebted  for  the  original  drawings 
of  plates  6 and  7,  and  also  for  many  other  facte 
and  observations,  fully  substantiating  the  facts  abovr^ 
stated.  There  can  be,  therefore,  no  proof  more  clear 
«md  positive  than  that  superfine  white  flour  is  deprived 
of  a large  portion  of  the  most  important  elements  of 
food. 

Bread-Making, 

The  most  important  use  of  wheat  is  for  bread- 
making.  For  this  purpose,  on  many  accounts,  it  is 
better  than  any  other  grain,  and  being  better,  is  more 
extensively  used  in  every  civilized  country. 

As  bread  is  the  staff  of  life,  wheat,  of  which  it  is 
a\ost  extensively  made,  is  called  the  ” queen  of  cereals  * ’’ 

* Appendix  A.  page  343. 


3 


34 


BREAD-MAKING. 


and  though  by  producing  sickness,  and  suffering,  and 
death,  her  reign  is  one  of  terror,  especially  in  this 
country  and  in  Europe,  it  would  not  be  desirable  to 
dethrone  her ; but  it  would  be  desirable  to  inaugurate 
such  a change  as  to  make  her  reign  a reign  of  mercy. 
The  necessity  and  importance  of  a change  in  regard  to 
the  use  of  white  bread  can  be  understood  by  consider- 
ing a few  facts. 

It  is  estimated  that  ninety-five  per  cent,  of  bread  used 
in  Boston  is  made  of  wheat  flour,  out  of  which  has  been 
taken,  by  the  process  of  grinding  and  bolting,  all  but 
about  five  per  cent,  of  its  muscle-making  and  life- 
supporting elements,  so  that  fifteen  barrels  are  required 
to  furnish  as  many  of  these  elements  as  one  barrel  of 
unbolted  wheat  meal.  This  will  be  fully  compre- 
hended by  reference  to  the  grain  of  split  wheat,  drawn 
under  a microscope.  Fig.  6,  and  the  proportions  of 
nitrates,  and  carbonates,  and  phospliates,  delineated 
by  different  colored  lines  in  plates  on  a previous  page. 
Carbonates  white,  nitrates  in  lines,  and  phosphates  in 
darker  lines.  The  nitrates  and  phosphates  are  in- 
separable by  mechanical  means,  being  bound  together 
by  gluten,  of  which  it  is  mostly  composed,  while  the 
carbonates,  being  mostly  starch,  which  is  granular, 
and  loosely  adherent,  is  easily  separated  from  the  glu- 
tinous crust  by  the  process  of  grinding  and  bolting. 

In  making  superfine  flour  twenty-five  per  cent,  of  the 
meal  goes  off  in  the  siftings,  of  which  fifteen  per  cent. 
IS  of  the  nitrates  and  phosphates,  and  ten  per  cent,  of 
carbonates. 


BRAN  AS  FOOD  FOR  HORSES  AND  CATTLE.  35 


A glance  at  Fig.  6 will  also  show  us  the  value 
of  bran  as  food  for  horses,  working  cattle,  and  fowls, 
and  growing  pigs,  and  give  us  some  hints  as  to  the 
right  way  of  using  it.  These  animals  require  about 
the  same  proportions  of  nitrates  and  carbonates  as  man. 
under  similar  circumstances  as  to  temperatures,  &c., 
from  twelve  to  eighteen  per  cent,  of  the  one  to  sixty 
to  eighty  of  the  other.  The  microscopic  analysis  above 
referred  to  gives  only  about  ten  per  cent,  of  the 
muscle-making  elements  and  phosphates,  while  chem- 
ical analysis  gives  fourteen ; but  they  are  both  correct, 
microscopic  analysis  recognizing  only  these  elements 
as  they  exist  in  the  outer  shell  of  the  grain,  while 
chemical  analysis  recognizes  them  as  mixed  with  the 
carbonates.^ 

That  superfine  white  flour  bread  does  not  contain  all 
the  elements  necessary  to  keep  the  system  in  order, 
under  any  ordinary  condition  of  life,  is  universally  ad- 
mitted by  all  who  have  given  attention  to  the  subject ; 
and  that  there  are  objections  to  the  usual  manner  of 
making  bread,  is  also  well  known  by  all  scientific  men  ; 
and  the  question  has  become  an  important  one.  How 
shall  wheat  bread  be  made  a reliable  "staff  of  life,” 
instead  of  the  broken  reed  which  it  is  now  admitted 
to  be? 

* Since  writing  the  above  Mr.  Hand  has  sent  me  a microscopic  analysis  cl 
the  flakes  of  bran  in  the  excrements  of  horses  and  cattle,  in  which  he  flnds 
the  very  important  fact  that  the  silex  and  iron,  which  in  the  cereals  reside 
almost  exclusively  in  the  outer  hull,  are  all  taken  out  by  digestion,  leaving 
only  the  woody  fibre  to  keep  it  in  form.  This  may  explain  the  fact  that 
"iorses  and  cattle  never  have  chlorosis  or  bad  teeth. 


B6  TWO  NEW  PLANS  OE  BREAD-MAKING. 

Two  New  Plans  of  Bread-Making 

Have  been  devised  by  scientific  men.  One  by  an 
American,  and  the  other,  by  M^ge  Mouri^s,  of  Paris. 
Both  of  these  have  been  extensively  tried. 

The  new  American  plan  consists  of  an  attempt  to  re- 
store to  the  fine  flour  the  phosphatic  elements  of  which 
it  was  deprived  by  bolting,  through  the  introduction 
of  phosphorus  or  phosphoric  acid  obtained  from  calcined 
bones. 

This  is  open  to  very  grave  objections,  and,  involving 
as  it  does  the  life  and  health  of  those^  who  adopt  it,  cer- 
tainly demands  a candid,  but  critical  and  faithful  chem- 
ical and  physiological  consideration. 

My  first  objection  to  this  plan  is,  that  it  does  not  at- 
tempt to  restore  the  muscle-making  elements  of  the  flour, 
of  which  it  is  mostly  deprived  by  the  process  of  bolting, 
but  leaves  out  these  important  parts  as  a sacrifice  to  a 
ridiculous  caprice  of  the  community,  — a whim,  on  ac- 
count of  which,  flour  deprived  of  its  most  important  ele- 
ments of  nutrition,  and  those  which  give  its  most  delicious 
relish,  is  preferred  and  universally  used  only  because  it  is 
white,  colored  bread  being  unfashionable  ; and  this  idea 
appears  the  more  absurd,  when  we  consider  that  this 
same  flour  is  frequently  colored  to  make  many  common 
and  fashionable  articles  of  food,  as  gingerbread,  rich 
cake,  etc. 

The  first  impulse  of  science  would  seem  to  be  to  teach 
us  to  use  wheat,  as  every  other  gift  of  God,  just  as  He 
made  it,  adding  nothing  to  it,  and  taking  nothing  from 


OBJECTION  TO  THE  NEW  AMERICAN  PLAN.  37 

't ; and  this,  I propose  in  another  place  to  show,  is  per- 
fectly practicable. 

Serious  Objection  to  the  IVew  American  Plan  for  Bread- 
Making’. 

But  my  great  objection  to  this  plan  is,  that  instead  of 
recommending  that  the  phosphatic  elements  usually  taken 
out  with  the  nitrogenous  elements  in  bolting  should  be 
restored  in  Nature’s  own  way,  or  rather  that  they  should 
not  be  taken  out  at  all,  the  attempt  is  made  to  restore 
them  from  the  laboratory,  by  phosphates  chemically  disor- 
ganized, — a plan  utterly  at  variance  with  Nature’s  laws, 
and  therefore  utterly  impossible ; and  if  it  were  simply  a 
failure,  the  objection  would  be  of  less  consequence ; but, 
like  all  other  attempts  to  thwart  the  purposes  of  God,  the 
very  effort  brings  its  penalty. 

God’s  plan,  as  clearly  revealed  in  his  book  of  nature, 
as  I have  elsewhere  partly  explained,  is  this : having,  at 
infinite  expense  of  time  and  labor,  made  the  world  for 
man,^  and  supplied  the  soil  with  every  element  which 
the  human  system  requires  ; and  having  ordained  that 
the  vegetable  kingdom  should  be  his  great  laboratory, 
in  which  these  elements  should  be  fitted  for,  and  placed 
in  harmony  with  the  assimilating  powers  of  the  differ- 
ent organs,  so  that  these  elements  should  be  gratefully 
received  as  they  are  wanted,  to  supply  the  requisite 
nutriment ; God,  in  infinite  wisdom,  in  order  to  pro- 
tect the  organs  from  all  elements  not  thus  organized 
in  some  vegetable,  has  made  these  very  elements  poi- 
sonous, so  that  they  shall  be  rejected  by  the  different 

* Writing  liffter  the  manner  of  men. 


DISORGANIZED  ELEMENTS  POISONOUS. 


organs  at  whose  gate  they  shall  call  for  admittance, 
and  they  are  therefore  made  poisonous  more  or  less 
according  to  their  relative  importance  in  the  human 
economy. 

Phosphorus,  being  the  element  on  which  the  brain 
and  nerves  depend,  and,  therefore,  the  physical  source 
of  life  itself,  is,  when  not  thus  organized  according  to 
Nature’s  plan,  the  most  virulent  poison  of  any  element 
found  in  the  human  system,  indeed  one  of  the  most 
virulent  poisons  in  nature ; and  it  is  susceptible  of 
proof  that  the  form  of  phosphorus  which  is  recommended, 
in  making  phosphatic  bread,  is  not  one  of  the  mildest, 
but  one  of  the  strongest  and  most  poisonous  combina- 
tions. 

Dr.  J.  Francis  Churchill,  of  Paris,  who  has  devoted 
more  time  than  any  one  else  to  experiments  on  the  differ- 
ent preparations  of  phosphorus,  with  a view  to  find  the 

best  form  for  the  treatment  of  consumption,  makes  him- 
✓ 

self  believe  that  while  the  combinations  of  phosphoric 
acid,  the  acid  which  is  used  in  this  plan  for  bread-mak- 
ing, is  very  poisonous  — the  combinations  of  phosphorous 
acid,  which  he  (Dr.  Churchill)  recommends  as  medicine, 
being  much  milder,  are  perfectly  innocent,  if  carefully 
used ; but  he  has  the  candor  to  quote  from  Dr.  Buck- 
heim,  a celebrated  chemist,  the  following  opinion  from 
four  other  celebrated  German  chemists,  in  regard  to  his 
own  milder  form  of  phosphorus  : — 

Woehler  and  Frenich,  basing  their  opinion  as  much 
upon  their  own  experiments  as  upon  those  of  Weige  land 
Krug,  have  concluded  that  phosphorous  acid  has  a pois- 


OPINIONS  OF  LEARNED  CHEMISTS. 


39 


onous  effect  analogous  to  arsenic,  . . . and  acts  upor 
the  economy  exactly  like  phosphoric  acid.  . . . The 
same  also  holds  good  with  the  salts  (phosphatic  salts)  of 
soda.” 

And  this  opinion  completely  covers  the  ground  of  the 
phosphatic  bread.  ‘‘The  phosphoric  acid  used  is  pre- 
pared from  the  only  practicable  source  of  phosphorus 
— the  bones  of  beef  and  mutton.  They  are  boiled, 
then  calcined.^^  This  burning  of  course  disorganizes 
the  bones,  and  the  phosphorus  is  then  in  the  condition 
of  all  disorganized  phosphorus,  unfit  for  assimilation  and 
poisonous. 

Now,  if  we  apply  to  this  case  the  law  to  which 
I have  referred,  that  elements  once  disorganized  can 
never  be  restored  to  their  normal  condition  till  they 
have  been  returned  to  the  soil  and  reorganized  in 
some  plant,  and,  unless  thus  organized,  can  never  be 
made  to  enter  into  the  composition  of  any  organ  of  the 
human  system,  we  can  understand  how  the  inventor  de- 
ceives himself.  Being  an  analytical  chemist,  and  not  a 
physiologist,  he  does  not  understand  that  chemical  laws 
must  always  yield  to  vital  laws,  as  all  lower  law  must 
subserve  the  higher : the  laws  which  controh  the  ele- 
ments of  the  earth  must  yield  to  the  laws  which  control 
the  life  of  man,  for  whom  the  earth  was  made. 

“ The  French  army  was  at  one  time  supplied  with 
soup-cakes,  prepared  from  bones,  with  the  aid  of  Papin’s 
digester.  The  bones  thus  liquefied  at  an  elevated  tem- 
perature and  pressure,  supplied  phosphates  in  quantity 
greatly  beyond  the  normal  wants  of  the  soldiers’  diet , 


40 


ORGANIZED  PHOSPHORUS  IN  BONES. 


but  Nature  appropriated  such  portions  of  the  nutriment 
offered  as  she  required,  and  the  remainder  was  rejected.^^ 
Does  this  prove  that  disorganized  phosphates  are  whole- 
some ? Then  it  also  proves  that  nitric  acid  is  whole- 
some : for  nitrogen  is  known  to  be  the  basis  of  beefsteak 
as  well  as  of  nitric  acid.  It  does,  however,  illustrate  the 
dependence  of  chemical  law  on  vital  law. 

Phosphatic  salts  in  bones  were  organized  there  through 
the  grass  and  the  grain  which  the  animal  ate,  which 
contain  these  substances  ; and  the  process  of  cooking  or 
softening  did  not  disorganize  them.  They  were,  there- 
fore, ready  in  the  soup,  to  be  taken  up  and  appropriated 
by  the  organs  which  needed  these  elements,  and  were 
wholesome  ; but  the  phosphatic  salts,  made  as  they  are 
from  calcined  bones,  are  of  course  disorganized,  and,  in- 
stead of  being  wholesome,  are  poisonous,  just  as  the 
nitrogen  in  aqua-fortis,  not  being  organized,  is  a poison , 
while  the  beefsteak,  being  composed  of  organized  nitro- 
gen, is  eminently  wholesome,  although  the  elements  of 
beefsteak  and  aqua-fortis  are  the  same,  and  in  not  dissim- 
ilar proportions.  ‘‘  The  advantages  of  the  new  method  ” 
of  bread-making  over  those  of  the  ordinary  method  of 
making  it  “ light  ” with  acids  and  alkalies  mixed,  or  sour 
milk  and  saleratus,  or  tartaric  acid  and  soda,  are  not  to 
my  mind  obvious ; while  the  disadvantages  are  in  just 
the  proportion  as  phosphoric  acid  is  more  poisonous  than 
the  acids  in  common  use  for  that  purpose. 


FRENCH  PLAN  OF  BREAD-MAKING. 


41 


Mege  Mouries’  Plan  of  Bread -Making. 

The  other-  new  method  to  which  I referred  — that  ol 
Mege  Mouries,  now  quite  extensively  adopted  in  Paris 
— is  not  liable  to  the  objections  which  have  been  made 
to  the  American  plan.  It  neither  leaves  out  of  the 
flour  any  important  elements,  nor  adds  thereto  anything 
injurious.  It  simply  restores  elements  of  the  ‘‘  groats 
and  bran,”  as  nearly  as  possible  in  their  original  propor- 
tions, to  the  superfine  flour  out  of  which  they  have  been 
taken ; but  the  question  to  my  mind  is,  why  be  at  such 
trouble  and  expense  to  get  out  the  bran,  and  then  be  at 
equal  trouble  and  expense  to  get  it  back  again  ? 

All  the  object  claimed  to  be  gained  by  Mourids’  pro- 
cess is,  that  while  it  makes  a ferment  to  raise  the  bread 
or  make  it  light,  it  takes  out  the  color  of  the  bran,  and 
leaves  -the  bread  wdiite ; but  it  also  takes  out  the  sweet 
natural  taste  of  the  unbolted  wheat  bread,  and  is  also 
objectionable  on  the  ground  that  the  bran  from  mouldy 
and  otherwise  diseased  wheat  cannot  be  detected  in 
detached  bran  as  in  unbolted  flour.  But  thus  to 
attempt  to  improve  what  God  has  made  perfect,  is 
too  absurd,  philosophically,  to  be  worthy  of  any ‘ex- 
tended comments ; and  though  less  dangerous  than  the 
similar  effort  of  his  American  contemporary. 

What  advantages,  then,  has  either  the  new  French 
or  new  American  method  over  the  common  method  of 
Dread-making  by  yeast  ? 

Both  make  science  subservient  to  " prejudice  against 
color”  of  bread,  and  seem  to  think  that,  at  any  rate, 


42  THE  OBJECT  GAINED  BY  THE  FKENCH  PLAN. 

bread  must  be  white ; while  the  one,  to  some  extent, 
saves  the  evils  of  the  loss  of  the  muscle-making  ele- 
ments of  wheat,  and  the  other  saves  the  evils  of  yeast, 
and  substitutes  an  evil  a thousand  times  worse  than 
that  of  yeast ; and  while  it  has  no  advantages  over  the 
common  substitutes  for  yeast,  in  the  production  of 
carbonic  acid  gas,  as  cream  of  tartar  and  soda,  sour 
milk  and  saleratus,  or  any  other  mixture  of  acids  and 
alkalies,  is  as  much  more  injurious  as  phosphoric  acid 
is  more  injurious  than  the  acids  in  common  use. 

The  object  to  he  gained  by  using  any  of  these 
materials  for  raising  breads  is  simply  this:  Flour, 

especially  superfine  flour,  when  wet  becomes  compact, 
or  solid ; and  if  thus  cooked,  as  in  some  kinds  of 
pastry,  and  thus  eaten,  will  allow  the  juices  of  the 
stomach,  which  produce  digestion,  to  have  access  only 
to  the  surface  of  the  morsel,  and  of  course  must  be 
slow  of  digestion. ; but  if  the  particles  of  flour  are  sep- 
arated from  each  other,  as  in  light  bread,  the  juices 
have  access  to  every  part,  and  the  process  of  digestion 
is  commenced  in  every  part  immediately. 

To  effect  this  object,  some  substance  is  intimately 
mixed,  by  kneading,  so  as  to  intervene  between  the 
particles,  which,  when  heated  in  the  oven,  or  by  gentle 
heat  beforehand,  will  be  changed  into  gas,  and  thus 
separate  the  particles  from  each  other ; then,  if  the 
flour  be  sufficiently  glutinous  to  hold  the  gas  till  the 
Dread  is  baked,  the  particles  remain  separated,  and  the 
bread  is  light ; but  superfine  flour  is  deprived  of  much  of 
/cts  gluten,  and  therefore  is  not  sufficiently  tenacious 
without  the  most  scrupulous  care  to  be  well  raised  or 


THE  OBJECT  OF  EAISING  BREAD. 


45 


to  retain  its  lightness  after  standing.  Unbolted  wheat 
flour,  having  in  it  all  its  natural  gluten,  is  much  more 
easily  managed,  and  indeed  may  be  raised  without  the 
addition  of  any  other  than  natural  and  useful  elements, 
as  we  shall  further  explain. 

Two  aerial  substances  are  produced  by  fermenta^ 
lion,  carbonic  acid  and  alcohol.  These  expand  the 
flour  and  make  it  light,  and  though  both  are  poisonous, 
they  do  no  essential  harm  to  the  bread,  because  they 
are  removed  from  it,  or  should  be,  before  eating.  The 
alcohol  is  all  removed  in  baking,  and  the  carbonic  acid 
gas  is  very  soon  displaced  by  oxygen  and  nitrogen,  on 
being  exposed  to  the  air,  and  if  the  bread  is  placed  in 
the  air,  the  pores  will  be  filled  with  pure  air  instead  of 
carbonic  acid  gas.  Bread  raised  with  yeast,  therefore, 
is  not  unwholesome,  unless  eaten  too  soon  after  bak- 
ing, while  bread  raised  with  phosphatic,  or  any  other 
acid  or  alkaline  salts,  leaves  these  foreign,  unnatural 
elements  in  the  bread  after  the  ca.'-bonic  acid  gas  is 
evolved.  Yeast,  however,  consumes  in  fermentation 
a portion  of  the  gluten  and  sugar  of  the  flour,  which, 
in  superfine  flour,  are  already  greatly  deficient ; but 
this  evil  in  unbolted  wheat  flour  is  of  very  little  conse- 
quence. Unbolted  flour  bread,  raised  with  yeast,  loses 
perhaps  six  per  cent,  of  its  muscle-making  element. 
Bolted  flour  bread,  raised  with  phosphatic  salts,  has 
lost  seventy  per  cent,  of  these  elements. 

Wliat,  then,  is  the  True  Method  of  making  Bread  ? 

My  "ideal  loaf”  is  made  from  wheat  perfectly  fair, 
and  free  from  smut  or  other  disease ; not  having  been 


4:4 


THE  EFFECT  OF  YEAST  ON  BREAD, 


wet  and  moulded  either  before  or  after  harvestings  and 
not  having  been  heated  before  or  after  grinding ; care- 
fully kept  clean  after  being  properly  ground  so  as  to 
need  no  sifting,  and,  not  being  bolted,  it  retains  every 
part  that  belongs  to  it,  and  needs  no  addition,  except 
cold  water  and  a little  salt. 

Such  bread  has  been  made  light,  and  of  course 
digestible,  sweet  and  delicious  to  the  taste,  and,  con- 
taining as  it  does  in  just  the  right  proportion  every 
element  required  by  the  human  system,  and  being 
sufficiently  porous  to  allow  access  to  every  part  by  the 
juices  of  the  stomach,  and  containing  in  its  cells  neither 
carbonic  acid  gas,  or  in  its  substance  any  phosphorus,^ 
or  soda,  or  potash,  or  other  deleterious  materials,  is 
perfectly  adapted  to  fulfil  every  requirement  of  nature, 
without,  so  far  as  I know  for  general  use,  a single 
drawback. 

Such  bread  I have  known  placed  on  the  table  of 
a large,  particular,  not  to  say  fastidious  family,  with 
the  nicest  and  whitest  family  bread,  and  every  membet 
take  it  in  preference.  Light  bread  cannot  be  thus 
made  from  bolted  flour  for  want  of  the  natural  gluten, 
and  this  is  an  additional  evidence  that  ''true  bread” 
requires  for  its  construction  no  additions  to,  or  sub- 
tractions from,  its  natural  elements ; indeed,  the  con- 
clusion is  to  my  mind  irresistible,  that  after  such 
infinite  pains  in  collecting  in  the  soil,  and  making  laws 
by  which  they  should  be  collected  in  a single  grain  of 
wheat,  all  the  elements  in  just  tlie  right  proportions 
and  combinations  necessary  to  supply  the  wants  of  the 
* Disorganized  Pliospliorus. 


NATURAL  BREAD. 


45 


human  system,  our  heavenly  Father  would  not  leave 
this  food  so  imperfect  as  to  require  either  addition  or 
subtraction  in  order  to  render  it  digestible. 


Recipe  for  making  Natural  Bread. 

Bread,  light,  sweet,  delicious,  and  eminently  whole- 
some, may  be  made  by  mixing  good  unbolted  wheat 
meal  with  cold  water,  making  a paste  of  proper 
consistence,  which  can  only  be  determined  by  experi- 
ments, pouring  or  dropping  it  quickly  into  a heated 
pan,^  that  with  concave  departments  is  best,  and  placing 
it  quickly  in  a hot  oven,  and  baking  as  quickly  as 
possible  without  burning.  The  heat  of  the  oven  and 
pan  suddenly  coagulates  the  gluten  of  the  outside, 
which  retains  the  steam  formed  within,  and  each  parti- 
cle of  water  being  interspersed  with  a particle  of  flour, 
and  expanded  into  steam,  separates  the  particles  into 
cells,  and  being  retained  by  the  gluten,  which  is  abun- 
dant in  this  natural  flour,  till  it  is  cooked,  the  mass 
remains  porous  and  digestible,  and,  containing  no  car- 
bonic acid  gas,  is  wholesome  when  eaten  immediately, 
and  of  course  equally  so  on  becoming  cold. 

But  for  family  bread,  if  not  eaten  till  it  has  stood 
in  pure  air  till  the  carbonic  acid  gas  in  the  cells  is 
exchanged  for  the  oxygen  of  the  air,  there  is  no 
important  objection  to  bread  made  from  good  unbolted 
wheat  meal  with  fresh  yeast.  It  contains  all  the  ele- 
ments necessary  for  feeding  the  muscles  and  brains, 
and  for  producing  all  the  fat  and  animal  heat  required, 
and  contains  no  materials  essentially  deleterious ; and 

* The  pan  must  be  sissing  hot,  and  the  oven  as  hot  as  possible. 


46  THE  DIFFERENT  METHODS  OF  BREAD-MAKING. 

bread  thus  made  from  good  superfine  flour  is  only 
negatively  deleterious,  having  lost  its  food  for  muscles 
and  brains ; and  it  need  not,  therefore,  be  discarded  if 
at  the  same  meal  these  elements  are  supplied  in  lean 
meat,  fish,  or  cheese,  or  other  food  containing  similar 
elements ; but  if  eaten  with  butter  or  sugar  only,  and 
nothing  else,  would  soon  make  of  us  bloated  and  stupid 
idiots. 

Different  kinds  of  superfine  fiour  retain  different 
'proportions  of  food  for  brains  and  'muscles^  and  all 
retain  some.  Indeed,  bread  could  not  be  raised  from 
flour  absolutely  deprived  of  gluten,  which  contains 
these  elements. 

Gluten  absorbs  water,  and  causes  the  paste  to  swell. 
That  flour  is  therefore  best  which  is  most  glutinous, 
and  it  is  also  most  economical,  as  it  will  make  the  most 
bread.  The  proportion  of  gluten  in  wheat  varies 
greatly  according  to  cultivation  and  time  of  harvesting, 
and  to  the  amount  of  nitrogen  in  the  soil  in  which  it 
grows.  And  by  a beautiful  provision  of  Nature,  it 
varies  also  in  a much  greater  degree  according  to  the 
climate  in  which  it  grows,  and  this  is  true  of  all  other 
grains.  In  northern  climates,  where  more  heat  is 
required,  a larger  proportion  of  starch  and  other  car 
bonates  are  found,  so  as  to  get  with  the  requisite 
amount  of  food  for  muscle  and  brain  more  heat-pro- 
ducing elements. 

Many  hundreds  of  analyses  have  been  made  in 
Europe  by  different  chemists  with  very  remarkable 
results.  In  England  and  the  more  northern  states  the 


DIFFERENT  QUALITIES  OF  FLOUR. 


47 


average  amount  of  gluten  in  the  best  flour  was  but  ten 
per  cent.,  while  some  samples  from  Italian  and  Turkish 
wheat  yielded  as  high  as  thirty-five  per  cent,  of  gluten. 
In  this  country,  also,  a similar  difference,  but  not  so 
great,  has  been  observed  between  the  nourishing 
qualities  of  flour  from  southern  and  northern  wheat. 
Chemical  analyses  have  not,  so  far  as  I know,  been 
made  to  determine  the  comparative  amount  of  gluten 
in  southern  and  northern  flour ; but  the  comparison 
is  made  by  a different  process,  and  the  difference  be- 
tween flour  from  Georgia  wheat  and  that  raised  in 
Canada  is  at  least  twenty-five  per  cent.* 

The  report  of  the  Patent  Office  for  1848  states  that 
Alabama  flour  yielded  twenty  per  cent,  more  bread 
than  flour  from  Cincinnati.  Upon  this  principle  the 
quality  of  flour  may  be  tested  in  a tube  graduated  like 
a thermometer,  only  being  large  enough  to  hold  an 
appreciable  amount  of  dry  flour,  which,  on  being  wet, 
will  swell  and  rise  in  the  tube  in  proportion  to  the 
amount  of  gluten  contained  in  the  sample  used ; or  the 
experiment  may  be  varied  by  noticing  the  degree  of 
expansion  under  regular  increments  of  heat.  Upon 
the  same  principle  housekeepers  judge  of  the  "strength” 
of  flour,  which  is  only  another  term  for  expressing 
the  amount  of  gluten  or  strength-giving  element,  by 
noticing  the  height  to  which  a given  quantity  will  rise 
in  a similar  vessel  in  which  it  is  being  prepared  for 
baking;  and  when  we  consider  that  flour  with  the 
most  gluten  is  not  only  twenty-five  per  cent,  more 
economical  than  flour  with  the  minimum  of  that  im- 

* Southern  flour  also  contains  more  phosphorus  than  Northern. 


48  SOUTHERN  FLOUR  BETTER  THAN  NORTHERN. 

portant  element,  but  is  also  sweeter  and  more  digesti- 
ble in  the  same  proportion,  it  becomes  a matter  of 
great  importance  to  be  able  to  judge  of  its  richness  in 
gluten. 

Another  fact  worthy  of  notice  in  this  connection, 
and  which  may  be  made  of  some  practical  importance, 
is,  that  the  gluten  of  southern  wheat,  or  of  any  other 
southern  grain,  does  not,  to  so  great  an  extent  as  in 
northern  wheat,  reside  in  a crust  around  the  surface  of 
the  grain,  but  is  more  enclosed  in  the  starch  in  the  centre 
— a provision  of  nature  probably  for  the  protection  of 
the  germ  from  inclement  weather.  This  is  shown  in 
the  plate.  Figs.  3 and  4,  in  the  drawing  of  corn.  Super- 
fine flour,  therefore,  made  from  southern  wheat,  is 
much  richer  in  gluten  than  the  same  quality  of  flour 
from  northern  wheat,  while  the  difference  is  much  less 
between  the  unbolted  flour  from  the  different  regions ; 
and  this  I think  accounts  for  the  well-known  fact 
that  Italian  maccaroni  is  much  more  nourishing  than 
American. 

Wheat  is  also  made  into  very  valuable  food  in  the 
form  of  grits,  or  cracked  wheat.  In  this  form  we  get, 
in  their  natural  state,  all  the  elements  of  the  human 
system ; even  the  iron  and  silex  are  all  there,  which 
are  sifted  out  of  much  of  the  unbolted  flour  in  the 
outer  or  true  bran.  This  bran  is  also  the  natural 
stimulant  to  keep  the  bowels  in  proper  action,  and,  for 
the  few  exceptional  cases  in  which  it  proves  too  irri- 
tating, the  "cerealina,”  or  grits,  from  wheat,  deprived 
of  its  outer  hull,  is  the  very  perfection  of  food.  This 


ANALYSIS  OF  RYE. 


49 


new  article  has  been  lately  introduced,  and  is  used  to 
some  extent  in  Philadelphia. 

Farina, 

Also,  as  made  by  Hecker,  is  an  excellent  prepara- 
tion, in  which  most  of  the  elements  of  wheat  are 
retained  in  a form  very  aeceptable  to  delicate  stomachs. 
It  is  deprived  of  some  of  its  gluten,  but  being  made 
from  the  varieties  of  wheat  which  are  richest  in  that 
element,  is  valuable,  especially  for  those  who  find  the 
grits  too  irritating. 

Rye, 

Next  to  wheat,  especially  for  bread-making,  rye  is 
the  best  of  the  cereals.  It  is  a favorite  article  of  diet 
of  the  people  of  northern  Europe,  especially  Eussia, 
where  it  is  called  ''black  bread.”  It  contains  more  of  . 
the  heat-producing  but  less  of  the  muscle  and  brain- 
feeding elements  than  wheat,  as  may  be  seen  by  com- 
paring the  following  analysis  with  that  of  wheat : — 


One  hundred  parts  of  rye  contain 

Water,  . . . 

13.00^ 

Gluten,  . . . 

10.79 

Albumen,  . . 

3.04 

1 

r Water,  . . . 13.00 

Starch,  . . . 

51.14 

>or,< 

! Muscle-feeders,  13.80 

Gum,  .... 

5.31 

Heaters,  . . . 71.5 

Sugar,  .... 

3.74 

Food  for  brains 

Fat, 

0.95 

and  bones,  . 1.7 

Woody  fibre, . 

10.29 

Mineral  matter. 

, 1.74^ 

Containing  more  waste  materials  than  wheat,  it  is  more 

4 


50 


ORIGIN  OF  CORN. 


Stimulating  or  laxative  to  the  intestinal  canal,  and  maj 
therefore  be  useful  in  a constipated  condition. 

Maize,  or  Indian  Corn. 

Fig.  11. 

Tuscarora  Com.  Northern  Com.  Sweet  Com.  Southern  Com. 


Fig.  8.  Fig.  9,  Fig.  10. 


This  cereal  is  generally  supposed  to  be  a native  ot 
America ; but  having  seen  and  planted  a sample  that 
was  taken  from  folds  that  had  enveloped  a mummy  for 
at  least  three  thousand  years,  which  sprouted  and  grew, 
and  which  produced  the  grain  on  a bundle  of  stalks 
like  those  of  broom  corn,  or  as  if  the  seed-bearing 
stalks  of  the  broom  corn  had  been  tied  together  and 
had  adhered,  as  I have  described  in  another  chapter, 
I am  of  opinion,  that,  like  the  other  cereals,  it  was 
cultivated  from  grass,  at  a period  too  remote  to  be 
traced  to  its  origin,  and  that  it  came  from  the  same 
species  as  broom-corn  and  sorghum.  It  contains  less 
muscle-making  materials  and  more  heaters  and  fat- 
makers  than  wheat,  and  consequently  is  much  used  in 
fattening  cattle  and  pigs,  for  which  purpose  it  is  better 
than  any  other  grain. 

Why  this  grain  is  better  than  wheat  for  fattening 
animals  is  seen  by  the  fact  that  it  contains  more 
than  six  times  as  much  oil.  Starch,  sugar,  and  fat 
are  classed  together  as  carbonates,  or  fat  and  heat- 
producers,  but  the  effect  of  each  is  different  from  the 


ANALYSIS  OF  CORN. 


51 


other  of  these  elements.  Fat  giving  two  and  a half 
times  as  much  heat  as  starch,  there  should  be  added  at 
least  sixteen,  making  the  heaters  eighty-nine. 

The  average  composition  of  one  hundred  parts  of 
Indian  corn  is  about, — 


Water,  . . . 

14.0 

Gluten,  . . . 

12.0 

Starch,  . . . 

60.0 

Sugar,  1 
Gum,  ) 

0.8 

Fat,  .... 

7.7 

Fibre,  . . . 

5.0 

Mineral  matter, 

1.0. 

^ Water, 14 

Muscle-makers,  . 12 
Heaters,  ....  73 
Fat-producers, 

Food  for  brains 
and  bones,  . . 1 


Sugar  and  starch  generally  furnish  the  necessary 
heat,  and  have  less  tendency  to  be  converted  into  fat, 
while  the  oils,  as  butter,  the  fat  of  meats,  &c.,  are 
without  much  change  deposited  as  fat.  If  sugar  or 
starch  alone  are  supplied,  they  will  not  only  supply 
heat,  but  fat ; but  if  oil  be  added,  sugar  and  starch  will 
supply  the  heat,  and  the  oil  the  fat  that  is  necessary, 
while  on  the  other  hand,  if  sugar  and  starch  be  deficient, 
and  oil  supplied,  it  will  supply  the  heat  as  well  as  the 
fat  of  the  system.  Sugar  and  starch,  and  especially 
sugar,  are  supplied  for  keeping  up  the  necessary  ani- 
mal heat  in  summer  and  the  oils  for  winter. 

Indian  corn,  especially  northern  corn,  is  excellent 
fi)od  for  cold  weather.  Nature,  however,  provides 
that  the  corn  of  southern  climates  has  less  of  the  fat 


52 


INDIAN  CORN  AS  FOOD. 


and  heat-producing  elements,  as  will  be  seen  by  refer 
ence  to  the  plates,  Figs.  2,  3,  9,  11. 

Indian  corn  has  too  little  gluten  to  make  good  light 
bread  alone ; but  mixed  with  rye  meal,  which  is  very 
glutinous,  the  most  wholesome  and  best  of  bread  is 
made,  which  in  many  places  in  New  England  consti- 
tutes the  staiF  of  life  to  the  laboring  classes.  Hom- 
iny, especially  ” large  hominy,”  which  is  merely  the 
grain  cracked  into  two  or  three  pieces,  is  excellent 
food,  and  if  made  from  southern  corn,  as  it  generally 
is,  contains  a full  share  of  muscle-making  material,  and 
is  well  adapted  to  laboring  men  ; it  also  contains  a large 
share  of  the  life-giving  principles,  and  is  well  adapted 
to  sedentary  and  literary  employments.  Small  hom- 
iny,” which  is  mostly  used  in  New  England,  is  general- 
ly made  from  flint  corn,  which  contains  less  of  the  food 
for  muscles  and  brains,  and  more  of  the  heaters,  and  is 
therefore  best  in  cold  weather.  Hulled  corn  also  con- 
tains the  elements  of  the  corn,  except  those  which 
reside  in  the  hull ; and  being  soaked  in  some  alkali, 
the  oil  is  removed,  and  it  is  therefore  good  summer 
food.  Well  washed  from  the  alkali  used  to  decorti- 
cate it,  it  is  unobjectionable  and  wholesome  to  those 
who  like  it. 

Buckwheat. 


Buckwheat,  or  "brank,”  as  it  is  called 
in  England,  is  cultivated  more  for  feeding 
fowls  and  birds  in  winter  than  for  food  for 
man.  It  is  inferior  to  wheat  in  its  nutritive 


Fig.  12, 


Buckwheat 


BUCKWHEAT. 


53 


elements,  containing  more  heaters  and  not  half  the 
muscle  and  brain-feeders.  Eaten  alone,  therefore,  it  is 
not  much  better  than  superfine  flour ; but  with  beefsteak 
or  fish,  to  furnish  requisite  nutriment,  it  will  serve  to 
keep  up  the  heat  for  a winter’s  day. 

In  one  hundred  parts  of  buckwheat  are,  — 


Water,  . . . . 

14.2 

Gluten,  .... 

8.6 

Starch,  .... 

50.0 

Gum, 

2.0 

Sugar,  .... 

2.0 

Fat, 

1.0 

Woody  fiibre,  . 

20.4 

Mineral  matter. 

1.8, 

Water,  ....  14.2 
Muscle-makers , 8.6 

Heaters,  . . . 75.4 
Food  for  brains 
and  bones,  . 1.8 


^or. 


Containing  a large  amount  of  woody  fibre,  which  is 
waste,  buckwheat  is  good  for  constipated  habits. 

Barley. 

This  cereal  compares  well  with  wheat  in  nutritive 
elements,  but  does  not  form  light  bread,  and  therefore 
is  nowhere  used  for  that  purpose,  but  is  in  many  places 
used  for  making  barley-cakes,  which  are  valuable  for 
persons  inclined  to  constipation,  containing,  as  it  does, 
more  of  waste,  which  is  the  natural  stimulant  of  the 
bowels.  Barley  is  peculiar  also  for  the  amount  of 
phosphates  which  it  contains,  - — more  than  twice  the 
amount  contained  in  wheat,  — and  therefore  might  be 
made  useful  to  literary  men  of  sedative  habits,  adapted, 


54 


BARLEY. 


as  it  is,  both  to  promote  the  action  of  the  brain  and 
bowels.  For  this  purpose  it  would  be  useful  and 
palatable  in  the  form  of  cakes  or  porridge.  Pearl 
barley,  which  is  barley  deprived  of  its  outer  coat,  is 
also  very  valuable  in  sickness  when  vitality  is  low. 

One  hundred  parts  of  barley  contain,  — 


Water,  . . . 
Gluten,  &c., 
Starch,  . . . 
Sugar,  . . . 
Gum,  .... 
Fat,  .... 
Fibre,  . . . 
Mineral  matter 


14.0-'] 

12.8 

48.0 

3.8 

3.7 

^or,"^ 

0.3 

13.2 

, 4.2. 

Water,  ....  14.0 
Muscle-feeders,  13.0 
Heaters,  . . . 69.5 
Food  for  brains, 

&c 3.5 


The  Oat 

This  plant  is  found  wild  in  the  northern  parts  of 
Europe,  and  is  the  only  cereal  except  rice  that  has 
been  traced  to  its  origin ; all  others  having  been  so 
changed  by  cultivation  as  not  to  be  recognized  in  their 
original  seeds  or  plants.  It  flourishes  in  northern 
climates,  and  degenerates  in  warm.  Unlike  the  wheat, 
its  muscle-making  materials  are  not  connected  with  the 
hull,  and  are  not  therefore  removed  in  making  fine 
flour.  Oat  meal  is  rich  in  food  for  muscles  and  brains, 
and  this  may  explain  the  fact  that  Scotchmen,  who  are 
raised  principally  on  oat-meal  porridge  and  oat-meal 
cakes,  are  remarkable  for  mental  and  physical  activity, 
ft  is  much  used  also  in  the  northern  counties  of  Eng- 


OAT. 


55 


land,  and  furnishes  the  most  material  for  hard  work  of 
any  known  grain.  One  hundred  parts  of  oat  contain, — 


Water,  .... 

13.6 

Gluten  and  al- 

bumen, . . . 

17.0 

Starch,  .... 

39.7 

Sugar,  .... 

5.4 

Gum, 

3.0 

Fat, 

5.7 

Fibre,  .... 

12.6 

Mineral  matter, 

3.0 

Water,  ....  13.6 
Material  for 

muscles,  . . 17.0 
Heaters,  . . . 66.4 
Food  for  brains, 

&c.,  ....  3,0 


^or. 


Some  inferences  of  great  practical  importance  may 
be  drawn  from  these  facts  in  regard  to  the  adaptation 
of  different  grains  for  gruels,  &c.,  in  the  different 
forms  of  disease,  which  will  be  more  fully  discussed 
in  a chapter  devoted  to  this  subject.  By  comparing 
the  above  analysis  with  that  of  w^heat,  and  that  show- 
ing the  loss  of  important  elements  in  superfine  flour, 
the  following  conclusions  will  be  irresistible  : Of  heat- 
producing  material,  oat  meal  and  unbolted  wheat  meal 
contain  about  the  same ; but  in  one  pint  of  oat-meal 
gruel  there  is  as  much  of  muscle-making  material  as  in 
five  gills  of  unbolted  meal  gruel,  and  as  in  three  quarts 
of  fine  flour  gruel. 

Rice. 

Rice  is  the  only  cereal  except  oats  that  has  been 
traced  to  its  original  plant.  It  is  found  wild  on  the 
borders  of  lakes  of  the  East  Indies,  and  is  very 


56 


RICE. 


extensively  oultivated  in  marshy  grounds  in  Asia,  the 
southern  parts  of  Europe,  and  in  some  of  the  south- 
ern states  of  America.  It  is  more  largely  consumed 
by  the  inhabitants  of  the  world  than  any  other  grain, 
wheat,  perhaps,  excepted;  but  it  is  poor  in  materials 
for  the  support  of  brain  or  muscle ; and  rice-eaters  are 
everywhere  an  effeminate  race.  It  contains,  as  will  be 
seen  by  the  following  analysis,  less  than  half  the 
muscle-supporting  elements  of  wheat,  and  only  one 
quarter  of  the  supporters  of  brain  and  nerve,  and  con- 
taining, as  it  does,  a large  amount  of  starch,  can  only 
support  a life  of  indolence  and  feebleness. 

One  hundred  parts  of  rice  contain,  — 


Water,  . . . . 

13.5 

Gluten,  .... 

6.5 

Starch,  .... 

74.1 

Sugar,  .... 

0.4 

Gum, 

1.0 

Fat,  

0.7 

Fibre,  .... 

3.3 

Mineral  matter. 

0.5 

Water,  . . . . 
Muscle-feeders, 
Heaters,  . . . 
For  brains  and 
bones,  . . . 


13.5 
6.5 

79.5 

0.5 


Eice  may  be  useful  as  a part  of  a meal,  with  beef- 
steak or  vegetables  that  contain  no  starch ; or,  in  some 
cases  of  sickness,  when  the  stomach  is  weak,  and  when 
little  is  wanted  of  food  but  to  keep  the  bellows  of  life 
blowing ; but  for  mental  or  muscular  strength  it  is  the 
poorest  article  in  the  common  lists  of  nutritive  food ; 
and  this  shows  the  worthlessness  of  ''  standard  tables,” 
as  they  are  called,  and  as  they  are  found  in  our  physio- 


57 


” STANDARD  TABLES”  OF  NUTRIMENT. 

logical  school-books  and  health  journals,  showing,  as 
they  profess  to  show,  the  amount  of  nutriment  in 
different  articles  of  food,  — but  making  no  distinction 
between  nutriment  which  feeds  the  system  and  the  fuel 
which  really  consumes  the  system.  — See  table  of  com- 
parative ''amount  of  nutriment,”  in  Halfs  Journal  of 
Health,  page  211,  in  which  rice  is  said  to  contain 
eighty-eight  per  cent,  of  nutriment,  while  beans  con- 
tain eighty-seven  per  cent.  ; whereas,  by  analysis,  rice 
contains  but  seven  per  cent.,  while  beans  contain 
twenty-seven  and  one  half  per  cent,  of  real  nutriment. 
This  table  would  indicate  that,  except  in  regard  to 
ease  of  digestion,  it  would  make  very  little  difference 
whether  we  ate  rice  or  beans ; whereas  one  pound  of 
beans  would  support  life,  in  action,  as  long  as  four 
pounds  of  rice.  This  is  only  a specimen  of  articles 
in  the  "standard  tables,”  and  shows  the  importance  of 
a new  " standard  ” by  which  to  judge  of  the  nutritive 
value  of  articles  of  food. 

Beaus. 

Having  given  an  analysis  of  all  the  cereals  in  com- 
mon use  for  food,  let  us  now  examine  the  leguminous 
seeds,  or  those  produced  in  pods.  These  are  all  rich 
in  nutritious  materials ; but  their  muscle-making  ele- 
ment is  not  gluten,  as  in  the  grains,  but  casein,  as  in 
cheese  — a substance  not  so  easily  digested  as  gluten, 
and  therefore  adapted  to  strong  healthy  persons  with 
good  powers  of  digestion. 


58 


BEANS. 


One  hundred  parts  of  common  field  beans  contain,  — 


Water,  . . . . 

Casein,  . . . . 

Starch,  . . . . 

Sugar,  . . . . 

Gum, 

Fat, 

Woody  fibre. 
Mineral  matter. 


14.8 

24.0 

86.0 
2.0 
8.5 
2.0 
9.2 
3.5^ 


Water, 


14.8 


Muscle-makers,  24.0 
>or,-^  Heaters,  . . . 57.7 
Food  for  brains 
and  bones,  . 3.5 


Two  pounds  of  beans  will  therefore  help  do  more 
muscular  work  than  three  pounds  of  wheat,  and  more 
brain  work  than  three  and  one  half  pounds.  But,  as 
they  contain  less  by  twenty  per  cent,  of  their  requisite 
amount  of  heaters,  they  are  very  appropriately  eaten 
with  fat  pork,  or  some  other  heat-making  food. 

Different  varieties  of  beans  contain  some  different 
proportions  of  the  same  elements ; but  all  are  very 
nutritious.  Beans  are  also  eaten  green,  when  the 
starch  is  not  formed.  In  that  state  they  are  much 
less  nutritious,  and  require  with  them  butter  or  some 
other  heat-giving  material ; but  are  useful  food  in  warm 
weather,  as  are  all  green  vegetables,  with  other  more 
nutritious  food. 


Peas 

Contain  very  nearly  the  same  elements  in  the  same 
proportions  as  beans.  They  are,  however,  more  easily 
digested,  and  are  too  rich  in  true  nutrition  to  be  eaten 
alone,  but  require  some  less  nutritive  article,  like 
potatoes,  and  also  an  addition  of  heat-givers,  as  butter, 
or  the  fat  of  animals. 


PEAS. 


59 


In  one  hundred  parts  of  peas  are,  — 


Water,  . . . . 

14.1' 

Casein,  .... 

23.4 

Starch,  .... 

37.0 

Sugar,  .... 
Gum, 

2.0 

9.0 

>or,< 

Fat, 

2.0 

Woody  fibre,  . 

10.0 

V. 

Mineral  matter. 

2.5. 

Water,  ....  14.1 
Muscle-makers , 23.4 
Heaters,  . . . 60.0 
Food  for  brains 
and  bones,  . 2.5 


Peas  also,  when  green,  are  excellent  in  warm 
weather,  containing  less  starch  and  less  casein,  but 
more  sugar  than  dried  peas.  They  also  require  butter 
or  other  heaters. 


Lentils. 


Lentils  also  contain  much  casein,  even  more  than 
peas.  They  are  not  much  used  for  food,  except  at  the 
East,  where  they  are  the  favorite  food  in  connection 
with  rice ; and  they  seem  to  be  intended  to  supply  the 
deficiencies  of  each  other,  rice  containing  too  few  and 
lentils  too  many  muscle-making  materials,  in  propor- 
tion to  their  carbonates,  as  will  be  seen  by  reference 
to  their  tables  of  analysis.  Lentils  contain,  in  one 
hundred  parts,  — 


Water,  . . . . 

14.0 

Casein,  . . . . 

26.0 

Starch,  .... 

35.0 

Sugar,  .... 

2.0 

Fat, 

2.0 

Gum, 

7.0 

Woody  fibre,  . 

12.5 

Mineral  matter, 

1.5 

"Water,  ....  14.0 
Muscle-feeders , 26.0 
< Heaters,  . . . 58.5 
Food  for  brains 
and  bones,  . 1.5 

V ^ 


60 


LENTILS. 


It  will  be  seen  that  while  rice  contains  but  half  itpi 
true  proportion  of  muscle-making  element,  — 6.5  i 
100,  — lentils  contain  much  more  than  their  proper 
tion,  or  26  in  100.  When  used  together,  there 
fore,  as  is  customary  with  the  Hindoos,  they  givi 
sufficient  muscular  power  for  such  an  inactive  people 
It  will  be  seen,  also,  that  both  lentils  and  rice  are 
deficient  in  food  for  brains ; and  this  may  likewise  be 
a providential  arrangement  to  adapt  the  proportion  of 
food  to  the  proportion  of  brain  to  be  fed.  This  idea 
is  perhaps  corroborated  by  the  fact  that  the  higher 
classes  in  the  East,  who  furnish  brains  for  the  lower, 
and  do  all  their  thinking,  use  food  containing  more  of 
the  phosphates,  the  little  seeds  of  the  huge  grasses, 
of  the  sorghum  species,  called  millet,  which  forms  a 
large  part  of  their  food,  being  admirably  adapted  for 
that  purpose,  used  in  connection  with  rice.  It  is  a 
curious  fact,  developed  by  scientific  researches,  that  the 
smaller  the  seed  in  proportion  to  the  plant  of  which  it 
is  the  germ,  the  larger  is  the  proportion  of  phosphates 
which  it  contains.  Millet,  being  the  small  germ  of  the 
large  plant  sorghum,  abounds  in  elements  of  food  for 
the  brain,  the  physical  germ  of  human  vitality. 

A practical  use  may  be  made  of  this  principle, 
especially  with  those  who  use  much  of  fine  flour,  or 
butter,  or  sugar,  in  either  of  which  is  found  only  a 
trace  of  the  phosphates,  — remembering  that  in  all  our 
nourishment  we  need  but  two  per  cent,  of  phosphates. 
We  can  get  sufficient  of  these  elements  to  produce  a 
sensible  effect  from  the  seeds  of  fruits  and  berries ; 


STAKCH. 


61 


many  of  them,  like  those  of  the  tomato,  are  digestible 
without  crushing;  others,  like  those  of  currants  and 
most  berries  and  apples,  should  be  crushed  with  the 
teeth.  The  core  of  the  apple  should  always  be  chewed, 
and  the  fibrous  envelope  rejected.  The  pits  of  all 
fruits  and  nuts  are  rich  in  phosphates  ; a small  quantity 
are  therefore  useful  as  a dessert  after  a meal  of  too 
carbonaceous  food. 


Starch. 

Of  the  three  principal  heat-giving  principles  of  food, 
starch,  sugar,  and  fat,  starch  is  the  most  abundant  and 
most  important  in  all  vegetable  food.  It  constitutes, 
indeed,  more  than  nine  tenths  of  all  the  carbonaceous 
principles  of  our  grains  and  leguminous  seeds  on  which 
we  mostly  depend. 

The  ultimate  elements  are  the  same  in  starch,  sugar, 
and  fat,  — carbon,  oxygen,  and  hydrogen,  — and  their 
use  in  the  system  is  not  in  building  up  the  structure  of 
the  body  or  in  repairing  its  waste,  but  is  in  fact  the 
fuel  which  keeps  up  animal  heat.  This,  however,  is 
not  a subordinate  office,  requiring,  as  it  does,  more 
than  three  fourths  of  all  our  food  to  accomplish  it ; and 
the  adjustment  of  scientific  principles,  so  as  to  keep 
the  internal  temperature  of  the  body  in  summer  and 
winter,  in  violent  exercise  or  at  rest,  at  just  98°  Fahr- 
enheit, is  wonderful;  and  yet  it  is  found  that  under 
no  circumstances  does  it  vary  more  than  one  or  two 
degrees. 

The  most  important  principle  in  the  production  of 


G2 


GRANULES  OF  STARCH. 


heat  is  starch,  which  is  found  in  all  vegetable  food 
except  the  fruits. 

It  exists  in  irregularly  shaped  granules,  varying  in 
size  from  2"^^  to  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  in 

different  species  of  plants,  each  plant  furnishing  its  own 
peculiar  granules.  These  granules  are  insoluble  in  cold 
water,  but  are  readily  diffused  through  it,  so  that  by 
bruising  or  crushing  the  grain  or  potato  that  contains 
it,  and  washing  in  cold  water,  the  starch  is  separated 
from  the  other  principles,  and,  being  of  greater  specific 
gravity  than  water,  settles  to  the  bottom  of  the  vessel 
containing  it,  and  may  thus  be  obtained  in  greater  or 
less  amounts  from  all  edible  vegetables  and  grains. 
On  being  mixed  with  water  of  a temperature  of 
180°,  starch  becomes  glutinous  and  loses  its  gran- 
ular character,  and  in  this  state  is  much  used  in  the 
arts  to  give  firmness  and  inflexibility  to  fabrics  of 
clothing,  &c. 

Starch  is  turned  blue  by  iodine,  and  the  extent  of  its 
presence  in  any  grain  can  therefore  be  easily  tested  by 
carefully  slicing  and  soaking  the  grain  and  applying 
a solution  of  iodine.  From  wheat  and  corn,  &c.,  thus 
treated,  the  drawings  were  made  for  Figs.  2,  3,  4,  &c. 
The  nitrogenous  and  phosphatic  principles  may  be  de- 
lineated by  other  appropriate  tests. 

When  starch  is  taken  as  an  article  of  diet,  its  carbon 
is  burned  in  the  lungs  in  contact  with  the  oxygen  of 
the  air,  and  gives  out  heat  to  warm  the  system,  just  as 
the  carbon  of  wood,  uniting  with  the  oxygen  of  the 
air,  gives  out  heat  to  warm  our  apartments;*  but  before 


* Appendix  D.  page  343. 


STARCH  CONVERTED  INTO  SUGAR. 


63 


it  is  thus  appropriated  by  the  lungs,  it  must  undergo  a 
change  in  the  process  of  digestion,  so  that  it  becomes 
sugar ; and  all  starch  is  thus  changed  into  sugar  before 
it  can  be  taken  into  the  circulation  to  be  used  in  the 
lungs  or  skin. 

When  starch  and  sugar,  therefore,  are  taken  into  the 
stomach  together,  the  sugar  is  first  used  for  fuel ; then 
the  starch  is  converted  into  sugar,  and  used  till  the 
demand  is  supplied,  and  all  that  remains  unchanged  into 
sugar  is  cast  from  the  system  as  waste,  and  if  oil  or  fat 
of  any  kind  be  taken  with"  sugar  and  starch,  the  fat  will 
only  be  used  for  fuel  when  the  sugar  and  starch  have 
failed  to  supply  the  demand. 

From  this  fact  we  may  derive  the  important  practical 
lesson  of  giving  to  the  most  feeble  stomach  sugar  for 
fuel,  and  next  starch,  and  depending  on  fatty  substances 
only  in  the  most  robust,  and  in  the  cold  weather,  when, 
being  more  concentrated,  it  is  useful. 

Starch  exists  in  a state  of  almost  absolute  purity  in 
arrowroot,  tapioca,  and  sago.  These  articles  of  food 
are  therefore  only  useful  by  themselves  when  the 
muscles  and  brain  are  in  a state  of  absolute  rest,  as  in 
some  cases  of  sickness.  Potatoes,  rice,  and  Tuscarora 
corn  also  contain  so  little  nitrogen  or  phosphorus,  that 
life  can  scarcely  be  sustained  on  them  alone,  but  are 
very  useful  with  lean  meat,  peas,  beans,  &c.,  which, 
being  deficient  in  carbonates,  need  some  such  articles 
to  supply  the  defficiency.  The  proportion  of  carbonates 
to  the  nitrates  in  potatoes,  rice,  or  Tuscarora  corn, 
is  fourteen  or  fifteen  to  one ; while  in  the  standai^d 


64 


AEROWKOOT.  — TAPIOCA. 


article  of  food,  — wheat,  — it  is  only  four  to  one. 
During  the  growth  of  plants  sugar  is  first  formed,  so  that 
in  all  green  vegetables  what  little  of  carbonaceous  food 
is  obtained  is  in  the  form  of  sugar,  which  is  converted 
into  starch  as  the  plant  progresses,  and  when  the 
grains,  or  leguminous  seeds,  are  perfected,  very  little 
sugar  is  left,  and  starch  is  predominant ; but  in  fruits, 
the  sugar  increases  as  they  ripen,  and,  when  perfectlj^ 
matured,  sugar  is  almost  the  only  principle  of  nourish- 
ment. 

Arrowroot 

Is  a form  of  starch  obtained  from  the  root  stocks' of 
plants.  The  most  common  source  is  the  maranta, 
which  is  a native  of  tropical  America  and  the  West 
India  islands.  From  these  islands  and  Bermuda  this 
country  and  England  are  principally  supplied.  An- 
other species  of  the  maranta  is  said  to  yield  the  East 
Indian  arrowroot,  and  the  French  tous-les^mois  is  pro- 
duced by  another  plant  of  the  same  order,  which  is  a 
native  of  Peru,  and  is  called  canna.  In  China  arrow- 
root  is  said  to  be  obtained  from  the  root  of  the 
water-lily. 

Tapioca 

Is  starch  from  the  mandioc  plant,  a native  of  South 
America.  This  plant  contains  prussic  acid,  and  is 
very  poisonous.  The  poison  is,  however,  separated 
from  the  root,  which,  after  preparation,  yields  cassava 
and  tapioca.  The  cassava,  being  formed  into  cakes,  is 


SAGO.  — SEA-WEEDS. 


65 


eaten  mostly  by  the  natives,  while  the  granules  of 
starch  cells  and  tapioca  are  extensively  used  in  Europe 
and  this  country  for  the  same  purposes  as  rice  and 
arrowroot. 

Sago 

Is  obtained  from  several  plants,  the  most  common 
being  the  sago-palm,  which  grows  in  the  islands  of  the 
Indian  Archipelago.  The  sago  is  obtained  from  the 
celular  tissue  or  pith  in  the  interior  of  the  trunk  of  the 
tree,  and  some  of  these  palms,  being  very  large,  yield 
sections  of  sago  pith  as  large  as  the  body  of  a man. 
A single  tree,  therefore,  yields  some  hundreds  of  pounds 
of  sago,  and  the  preparation  of  it  furnishes  employment 
for  a large  part  of  the  inhabitants  of  Java  and  the 
Philippine  and  Molucca  Islands,  which  furnish  it  to 
ail  the  world.  In  many  places  it  is  much  used  for  the 
sick,  it  being  erroneously  understood  to  possess  some 
peculiar  virtues. 

Moss  and  Sea-weeds, 

The  nutritive  properties  of  these  articles  of  diet  con- 
sist mostly  in  starch,  but  are  all  too  poor  in  any 
nutritive  properties  to  be  of  much  consequence,  the 
gelatinous  substance,  on  account  of  which  it  is  mainly 
used  in  making  blanc-mange,  &c.,  being  like  the  gela- 
tine in  fish  and  animal  flesh,  entirely  indigestible,  and 
only  useful  as  waste  to  keep  the  bowels  in  order.  The 
nice  jellies  made  from  calves’  feet,  or  isinglass,  or 
the  mosses,  are  all  destitute  of  nutriment. 

5 


66 


MOSSES. 


Reindeer  ffloss. 

Reindeer  moss,  however,  must  contain  some  nutritive 
qualities,  as  it  seems  to  be  a provision  of  nature  to  sup- 
port the  reindeer  in  a climate  where  almost  nothing  else 
grows. 

In  Iceland  and  Lapland,  in  spite  of  the  extreme  cold 
to  which  it  is  subjected,  this  lichen  grows  in  great 
abundance,  and  during  the  winter  season,  which  con- 
stitutes the  most  of  the  year,  the  reindeer  has  no  other 
means  of  support,  digging  down  for  it  with  his  nose 
through  the  deep  snow ; and  some  arctic  navigators  in 
their  extremity  have  been  obliged  to  resort  to  the  same 
miserable  diet,  but  only  with  temporary  success,  the 
gastronomic  capacity  of  man  being  too  limited  to  con- 
tain a quantity  sufficient  to  sustain  life  but  for  a very 
limited  period. 

Irish  Moss. 

A sea-weed  known  under  the  names  of  carragheen 
moss,  pearl  moss,  and  Irish  moss,  grows  on  the  rocky 
sea-shores  of  Europe,  especially  those  of  Ireland  and 
the  north  of  England  and  Scotland.  It  contains  but 
little  nutriment,  but  is  used  in  England,  and  sometimes 
in  this  country,  perhaps  with  advantage,  with  our  too 
concentrated  nourishment ; but  alone  it  can  sustain  life 
but  for  a short  time.  It  is,  however,  resorted  to  by 
the  poorer  classes  on  the  sea-shores  of  Ireland  when  the 
ordinary  crops  of  corn  and  potatoes  have  failed,  and  for 
a time  will  keep  them  from  actual  starvation. 


A CHINESE  LUXURY. 


67 


Several  other  sea-weeds  are  used  in  England  and 
Scotland  as  gelatine,  to  thicken  and  flavor  soups  and 
ragouts,  and  other  dishes  of  food ; but  in  all  there  is  a 
flavor  of  the  sea  which  renders  them  objectionable  and 
keeps  them  from  general  use. 

Edible  Bird’s  Nest. 

In  China,  however,  the  people  are  very  fond  of  sea« 
v/eeds,  and  many  kinds  are  collected  and  added  to 
soups,  or  are  eaten  alone  with  sauce.  They  also 
esteem  the  edible  bird’s  nest  a great  luxury,  making  it 
an  important  article  of  commerce,  and  paying  for  it  a 
great  price,  a large  number  of  persons  making  it  a 
trade,  and  doing  nothing  else  from  youth  to  old  age  but 
hunt  for  these  nests  in  caves  of  rocks  so  diflScult  of 
access  that  none  but  adepts  attempt  it.  They  are  the 
nests  of  a swallow,  which  are  made  from  the  gelatinous 
substance  of  sea-weeds,  and  are  therefore  valueless  for 
nourishment,  and  would  be  almost  tasteless  but  for  the 
flavor  imparted  by  the  excretions  of  the  families  which 
have  made  them  their  home ; but,  having  been  thus 
occupied,  they  have  a flavor  which  is  relished  exceed- 
ingly by  the  aristocracy  of  China,  who  alone  can  afford 
the  expense  of  such  a luxury. 


68 


THREE  KINDS  OF  SUGAR. 


Sugar. 

Sugar  and  starch  have  very  nearly  the  same  chemi- 
cal composition,  but  in  some  of  their  physical  proper- 
ties they  are  very  different.  Sugar  is  soluble  in  water, 
while  starch  is  only  diffusible  through  it.  Sugar  under- 
goes the  process  of  fermentation,  starch  does  not ; sugar 
has  a sweet  taste,  starch  is  almost  tasteless.  Starch, 
however,  is  convertible  into  sugar,  and  then  assumes 
all  the  characteristics  of  other  sugar,  being  capable  of 
fermentation  and  of  thus  being  converted  into  alcohol. 

It  is  converted  into  sugar  by  the  juices  of  the  mouth 
and  stomach,  and  this  is  the  first  process  of  digestion 
with  starch.  Sugar,  therefore,  is  more  quickly  pre- 
pared to  be  absorbed  into  the  blood,  and  better  adapted 
as  a heat-giver  for  the  young,  and  in  warm  weather 
when  the  digestive  organs  are  enfeebled.  This  is  indi- 
Gated  in  children  by  the  almost  universal  love  which 
they  manifest  for  food  containing  it,  and  Nature  fur- 
nishes it  in  the  milk  of  all  animals,  and  in  the  summer 
in  fruits  and  berries  and  green  vegetables,  clearly  indi- 
cating the  importance  and  the  appropriate  use  of  sugar. 

Sugar  assumes  three  different  forms  in  common 
articles  of  diet,  which,  though  very  nearly  alike  in  chem- 
ical composition,  have  yet  the  same  peculiarities.  These 
are  called  cane  sugar,  grape  sugar,  and  milk  sugar. 

They  vary  in  composition  as  follows  : — 


Carbon. 

Hydrogen. 

Oxygen, 

Cane  sugar. 

12 

10 

10_ 

Grape  sugar. 

12 

12 

12’ 

Milk  sugar. 

11 

12 

12 

ALCOHOL. 


C39 


They  are  all  alike  sweet  and  soluble  in  water ; but 
the  cane  and  milk  sugars  differ  from  the  grape  in  that 
they  do  not  ferment  till  they  have  first  been  converted 
into  grape  sugar. 

Sugar  is  found  in  almost  all  plants  at  certain  periods 
of  their  growth  and  development. 

The  Process  of  Malting.  — Sugar  is  formed  in  the 
germination  of  seeds,  as  is  well  illustrated  in  the 
process  called  malting^  which  consists  in  placing  the 
grain,  generally  barley,  in  a condition  to  favor  its 
germination. 

When  in  the  process  of  growth  the  starch  is  con- 
verted into  sugar,  that  process  is  arrested  and  the  sugar 
is  secured  for  the  purpose  bf  fermentation. 

AleolioL 

All  kinds  of  grain  may  be  thus  converted  into  malt, 
and  used  for  making  wine,  beer,  and  distilled  spirits  \ 
indeed,  all  grasses,  and  fruits,  and  vegetables,  which 
contain  sugar  or  starch,  — and  to  just  the  extent  of  the 
sugar  or  starch,  — can  be  converted  into  alcohol ; but 
the  process  is  one  of  decomposition,  and  therefore, 
according  to  principles  already  described,  sugar  and 
starch  are  then  brought  into  a condition  to  be  poison- 
ous. The  same  elements  and  the  same  chemical  com- 
binations which  in  sugar  are  nourishing  food,  are  in 
alcohol  poisonous ; and  while  the  beers,  and  wines,  and 
distilled  spirits  may  afford  nourishment  on  account  of 
the  sugar  and  starch,  and  other  nutritive  elements  in 


70 


SUGAK  IN  VEGETABLES. 


them,  and  although  the  system  may  become  so  accus- 
tomed to  the  influence  of  the  alcohol  mixed  in  them  as 
not  to  be  in  all  cases,  in  their  moderate  use,  positively 
or  perceptibly  injurious,  still  their  habitual  employment 
is  useful  or  injurious  in  just  the  proportion  as  their 
carbon,  hydrogen,  and  oxygen  are  organized  as  they 
came  from  the  grain,  or  disorganized  by  fermentation. 

Sugar  ill  the  Sap  of  Trees. 

Sugar  is  circulated  in  the  sap  of  trees  and  plants  just 
before  the  unfolding  of  the  buds ; and  in  some  species, 
as  the  birch  and  maple,  is  then  found  in  such  quantities 
as  to  be  collected  and  manufactured  in  large  quantities. 
The  sap  of  the  birch  is  collected  in  the  spring  in  Scot- 
land, and  fermented,  and  thus  birch  wine  is  manufac- 
tured ; and  in  the  northern  part  of  the  New  England 
States  and  New  York  sugar  is  annually  manufactured 
from  the  sugar  maple  to  the  amount  of  hundreds  of  tons. 

Vegetables  and  Fruits^  and  roots  also,  contain  sugar, 
and  can  be  fermented  into  intoxicating  beverages  ; and 
from  some,  as  the  beet  and  mangel-wurzel,  large  quan- 
tities of  sugar  are  manufactured,  especially  in  France. 

The  Huge  Grasses^  as  the  sugar  cane  and  sorghum, 
contain  it,  however,  in  the  largest  proportions,  and  are 
the  principal  sources  of  its  supply.  Treacle  or  molaa- 
ses  is  that  portion  of  the  sugar  which  will  not  crys- 
tallize, and  which  is  therefore  separated  by  draining 
from  the  brown  sugar  before  it  is  purified,  and  is  nol 
objectionable  as  carbonaceous  nutriment. 


EDIBLE  BOOTS  AND  TUBEKS. 


7J 


Potato, 

Of  the  class  of  edible  roots  and  tubers,  the  j[)otato 
stands  at  the  head.  It  contains  but  little  muscle- 
forming  material,  and  a large  proportion  of  starch, 
and  is  therefore  well  adapted  to  be  eaten  with  lean 
meat,  which  consists  chiefly  of  nitrogen,  and  has  no 
digestible  carbon. 

Its  native  country  is  Chili,  but  it  is  also  found  wild 
in  Mexico.  Before  being  cultivated  it  is  a gnarly, 
bulbous  root,  not  considered  edible.  From  this  root 
grows  a stalk,  which  blossoms  and  bears  seeds.  These 
seeds,  being  planted  in  a new  soil,  produce  improved 
tubers,  which,  being  transplanted,  improve  from  year  to 
year,  and  form  a distinctive  character  as  to  shape, 
color,  &c.,  and  receive  a distinctive  name  by  which 
the  variety  is  known,  as  " kidneys,”  ” reds,”  blues,” 
''whites,”  ''pink-eyes,”  &c.,  each  of  which  after  a few 
years  degenerates,  and,  going  out  of  use,  makes  way  for 
a new  variety,  produced  in  the  same  way ; and  thus, 
within  the  last  three  hundred  years,  it  has  been  intro- 
duced into  all  Europe  and  America,  and  is  an  inesti- 
mable blessing  to  their  teeming  populations. 

To  this  country  especially,  where  every  one  eats 
meat,  it  is  invaluable,  — supplying,  as  it  does,  the 
elements  wanting  in  that  food,  and  waste  material  to 
counteract  the  influence  of  our  too  concentrated  nutri- 
ment. It  is  also  very  valuable  to  the  laboring  classes 
of  England,  Ireland,  and  Scotland,  used  as  it  is  with 


POTATO. 


?2 


oat  meal,  beans,  and  peas,  which  supply  the  muscle- 
making eJements  in  which  it  is  deficient. 

In  one  hundred  parts  of  the  potato  are,  — 


Water  and 

waste,  . . . 78.4 
Albumen,  &c.,  1.4 

Starch,  ....  15.5 
Dextrine,  ...  0.4 

Sugar,  ....  3.2 

Fat, 0.2 

Mineral  matter,  0.9> 


^ Water  and 

waste,  . . . 78.4 
Muscle-makers , 1.4 

Heaters,  . . . 19.3 
F ood  for  brains , 0.9 


All  the  muscle  and  brain-feeding  principle  in  the 
potato  resides  in  the  rose  end,  about  the  eyes  or  germ. 


Sweet  Potato. 


The  sweet  potato  is  used  mostly  in  tropical  climates. 
It  diflPers  from  the  other  potato  but  little,  and  that 
diflference  consists  mainly  in  their  relative  amounts  of 
sugar  and  mineral  matters. 


Water  and 

waste,  . . 68.50 
Starch,  . . . 15.05 
Sugar,  . . . . 10.20 
Albumen,  . . 1.50  > 

Fat, 0.30 

Fibre,  ....  0.45 

Gum,  &c.,  . . 1.10 

Mineral  matter,  2.90^ 


''Water  and 

waste,  . . 68.50 
Muscle-makers,  1.50 
^ Heaters,  . . . 27.10 
Food  for  brains, 

&c.,  . . . 2.90 


VEGETABLES. 


73 


Parsnips,  Turnips,  Carrots,  Beets,  Onions. 

The  different  varieties  of  the  roots  above  named  are 
all,  besides  the  potato,  that  to  any  extent  are  used  in 
this  country  as  food  for  man.  So  large  a proportion 
of  their  bulk  is  made  up  of  water  and  waste  that  the 
stomach  of  man  is  not  sufficiently  capacious  to  contain 
enough  of  either  to  support  life  and  health  alone ; but 
for  that  reason  they  are  valuable  adjuncts  to  concen- 
trated food,  especially  in  warm  weather,  when  but  for 
these,  and  other  similar  vegetables  and  fruits,  we  should 
not  get  the  bulk  and  waste  necessary  for  proper  diges- 


tion and  intestinal  action. 

In  one  hundred  parts  are,  — 

In  Parsnips. 

Water  and  waste, 90.8 

Muscle-makers, 1.2 

Heaters, 7.0 

Food  for  brains,  &c., 1.0 

In  Turnips. 

Water  and  waste, 94.4 

Muscle-makers,  . . . . ^ . . 1.1 

Heaters, 4.0 

Food  for  brains,  &c., 0.5 

In  Carrots. 

Water  and  waste, 91.8 

Muscle-feeders, 0.6 

Heat-givers,  6.6 

Brain-feeders, 1.0 


74 


BEETS. 


Beets  contain  more  sugar,  and  therefore  more  heat- 
ing elements,  than  other  vegetables,  but  contain  the 
same  proportions  of  nutrition  and  waste,  while  onions 
are  still  more  nearly  all  water  and  waste. 

Other  green  vegetable^ food,  as  cabbage,  cauliflower, 
lettuce,  cucumber,  &c.,  and  all  the  fruits  and  berries 
which  are  kindly  furnished  at  the  season  in  which  they 
are  most  needed,  are  useful  for  the  same  reasons  as 
stated  above,  and  a choice  in  them  can  only  be  made 
by  reference  to  the  particular  taste  and  power  of 
digestion  of  each  individual ; that  which  relishes  best 
is  generally  most  easily  digested.  No  one,  therefore, 
can  judge  for  another  what  is  or  is  not  wholesome. 

Every  article  of  food  containing  the  elements  of  the 
system  is  wholesome  if  it  can  be  eaten  with  a relish 
and  be  digested,  and  on  the  other  hand,  any  article  is 
unwholespme  which  contains  elements  not  needed,  and 
which  cannot  be  relished  or  digested;  and  generally 
they  are  most  desired  when  most  needed,  and  will  be 
digested  if  they  can  be  eaten  with  a good  natural  relish. 

The  taste,  unperverted,  is  a sentinel  that  admits  no 
enemy  and  rejects  no  friend  to  the  human  system.  It 
is  folly,  therefore,  to  dispute  among  ourselves,  or  to  ask 
the  doctor,  whether  this  article  or  that  is  wholesome. 

Having  determined  beforehand,  as  all  intelligent 
providers  easily  may  by  reference  to  the  simple  prin- 
ciples herein  explained,  what  class  of  elements  is 
wanted  to  adapt  the  food  to  the  circumstances  of  the 
family,  they  have  only  to  select  from  the  great  vari- 
ety of  articles  which  God  has  given  such  as  will  be 


ANALYSIS  OF  BEEF. 


75 


best  relished,  and,  with  very  rare  exceptions,  nothing 
thus  selected  and  properly  cooked  will  ever  prove  in- 
digestible or  unwholesome,  and  these  exceptions  will 
only  be  found  where  the  digestive  organs  are  deranged 
by  previous  imprudence. 

Animal  Food. 

The  flesh  of  animals,  fat  and  lean  together,  contains, 
as  does  a grain  of  wheat,  every  one  of  the  fourteen 
elements  of  which  the  human  system  is  composed,  but 
not  in  the  same  proportions,  or  in  the  same  proximate 
principles. 

In  one  hundred  parts  of  the  carcass  of  an  ox,  of 
average  fatness,  are  of  food  for  brains,  &c.,  about  4; 
for  muscles  and  tissues,  15 ; for  heat  and  fat,  30 ; 
water,  50.  In  wheat,  for  brains,  c&c.,  about  2;  for 
muscles  and  tissues,  average  14;  for  heat  and  fat  70: 
water,  14. 

The  muscle-making  principles  in  wheat  are  gluten 
and  albumen,  while  in  beef  they  are  fibrin  and  albu- 
men ; but  each  of  these  principles  so  perfectly  agrees  in 
chemical  composition  as  to  be  considered  mere  modifi* 
cations  of  the  same  substance,  and  being  dried,  con- 
tains precisely  the  same  elements  and  in  the  same  pro- 
portions. 

The  heat  and  fat-producing  principles  in  wheat  are 
sugar  and  starch,  principally  starch,  with  very  little 
fat,  while  in  beef  it  is  fat  only ; and  as  fat  produces 
two  and  a half  times  as  much  heat  as  sugar  or  starch, 
And  beef  contains  more  than  three  times  as  much  watei 


76  ANALYSIS  OF  DIFFEKENT  MEATS. 

as  wheat,  the  differences  of  the  heat-giving  powers  of 
beef  and  wheat  are  much  more  nearly  alike  than  would 
at  first  appear. 

The  five  articles  of  animal  food  on  which  in  this 
country  we  principally  depend  differ  in  their  proportions 
of  nutritive  qualities,  and  are  therefore  adapted  to 
different  temperatures  and  different  circumstances,  as 
may  be  seen  by  the  following  condensed  analysis  of 
each. 

In  one  hundred  parts  are,  — 


Mineral  matter, 
or  food  for 
brains,  &c. 

Fibrin  and  albumen, 
or  food  for  mus- 
cles and  tissues. 

Fat,  or  food 
for  heat. 

Water 

Veal, . 

. . . 4.5 

16.5 

16.5 

62.5 

Beef,  . 

. . . 5.0 

15.0 

30.0 

50.0 

Mutton 

, . . 3.5 

12.5 

40.0 

44.0 

Lamb, 

...  3.5 

12.0 

34.0 

50.5 

Pork, 

...  1.5 

10.0 

50.0 

38.5 

By  this  table  it  is  seen  that  while  veal  contains  but 
little  more  than  an  equal  quantity  of  the  principles  that 
support  muscle  and  heat,  pork  contains  five  times  as 
much  of  the  heaters  as  of  the  muscle-feeders.  Of 
course  pork  is  best  adapted  to  food  for  cold  weather, 
and  veal  for  warm  weather 

Under  ordinary  circumstances  we  requffe  four  times 
as  much  of  food  for  producing  heat  as  for  making 
muscle,  that  is,  four  times  as  much  sugar  or  starch  as 
albumen,  fibrin,  gluten,  or  casein ; but  one  pound  of 
fat  contains  an  equivalent  for  two  and  a half  pounds 
of  sugar  or  starch,  and  therefore  in  animal  food  the 


BEANS  AND  PORK. 


77 


carbonates,  always  being  furnished  in  the  form  of  fat, 
less  than  half  the  bulk  of  animal  food  is  required  than 
the  best  vegetable  food.  This,  also,  renders  it  neces- 
sary to  take  more  animal  food  in  winter  than  in  sum- 
mer ; and  hence  the  provision  for  animal  heat  in  cold 
climates  is  the  fat  of  animals,  while  in  warm  climates 
sugar  is  the  principal  provision,  or  sugar  and  staich 
as  in  fruits  and  vegetables. 

But  this  table  is  formed  on  the  supposition  that  we 
use  an  average  of  fat  and  lean  meat ; yet  this  is  only 
true  in  the  small  meats,  while  in  beef  and  pork  we  take 
very  little,  having  an  average  mixture  of  fat  and  lean. 
In  lean  beefsteak  we  get  almost  all  muscle-making 
principles,  while  in  fat  pork  we  get  all  heaters.  With 
steak,  therefore,  we  require  some  butter,  or  fat  of  pork, 
or  some  farinaceous  vegetable  food,  as  potatoes,  rice, 
Indian  corn,  or  wheat ; while  with  fat  pork,  we  require 
beans,  peas,  or  lean  meat,  to  furnish  food  for  muscle ; 
and  if  our  labor  or  exposure  to  cold  requires  such  con- 
centrated nourishment,  nothing  can  be  more  wholesome 
than  beans  and  pork  — the  one  containing  heaters  in 
the  most  concentrated  form,  and  the  other  the  most 
of  muscle  and  life-giving  principles  of  any  vegetable 
food. 

But  what  an  absurd  meal  is  that  of  beans  and  pork 
on  a hot  summer’s  day,  especially  on  a Sabbath  morn- 
ing ! and  yet,  from  the  landing  of  our  Pilgrim  fathers 
this  has  been  the  Sunday  morning  breakfast  of  a 
majority  of  New  England  people,  and  I have  some- 
where seen  an  estimate  made  by  a quaint  old  divine,  as 


78 


IS  PORK  HEALTHY? 

# 

a part  of  his  sermon,  of  the  number  of  tons  of  beans 
and  pork  preached  to  in  New  England  every  Sunday 
while  the  owners  were  asleep. 

On  the  other  hand,  seeing  the  stupefying,  and  con- 
gesting, and  heating,  and  blotch-making  influence  of 
these  articles  on  sedentary  people,  some  housekeepers 
condemn  them  as  altogether  and  always  unwholesome, 
especially  pork,  which  is  supposed  to  cause  scrofula 
and  all  manner  of  diseases,  and  will  not,  under  any  cir- 
cumstances, use  it  in  the  family.  But  why  not  use  our 
reason,  and  consider  what  pork  is,  and  what  it  was 
made  for,  and  treat  it  as  the  creature  of  God,  and  there- 
fore good,  and  not  to  be  despised?  The  elements  of  the 
fat  of  pork  and  fat  of  beef,  and  all  other  meats,  as  also 
of  butter,  and  the  oil  of  corn  and  oils  of  the  vegetables, 
are  precisely  the  same,  except  the  osmazome,  which 
distinguishes  the  taste  of  each,  and  gives  to  one  a 
relish  for  mutton  and  another  for  beef.  All  are 
wholesome  or  unwholesome  as  they  are  taken  at  the 
right  time  in  the  right  proportion  to  other  food,  &c., 
and  all  unwholesome  if  taken  without  regard  to  cir- 
cumstances. 


“Fishes  of  the  Sea.” 

” Everything  wherein  there  is  life,”  God  gave  tu 
man  ''for  meat  even  as  the  green  herb,”  and  of  course 
we  find  in  all  these  living  thino^s  the  same  elements 
as  in  the  products  of  the  green  herb. 

An  analysis  of  codfish  and  haddock  gives  the  same 
dements,  and  in  just  about  the  same  proportions,  as 


FOOD  FROM  FISHES. 


79 


lean  beef  and  mutton,  the  only  remarkable  differ- 
ence being  in  the  amount  of  phosphates,  which  are 
much  larger  in  the  fish ; but  varying  more  in  propor- 
tion in  fishes  than  in  mutton,  and  varying  according  to 
tlie  habits  of  the  fish  in  regard  to  muscular  power. 

Codfish,  haddock,  halibut,  stand  in  relation  to  eaeli 
other  in  regard  to  the  three  classes  of  elements  — the 
nitrates,  the  carbonates,  and  the  phosphates — as 
beef,  mutton,  and  pork;  halibut  having  less  of  the 
nitrates  and  phosphates,  and  more  of  the  carbonates, 
than  codfish  or  haddock,  as  pork  less  of  the  former 
and  more  of  the  latter  than  beef  and  mutton.  Fishes 
of  the  same  species  also  have  more  or  less  of  the  car- 
* bonates,  according  to  climate,  being  providentially 
adapted,  as  are  the  grains  and  the  land  animals,  to 
supply  the  heat  of  man  according  to  his  necessities. 

In  regard  to  the  nitrates  and  phosphates,  a great 
difference  is  found  in  the  different  species,  those  which 
have  the  most  muscular  power  having,  of  course,  more 
of  the  nitrates,  or  muscle-making  element,  and  those 
which  have  the  most  activity,  the  most  of  the  phos- 
phates, which  not  only  furnish  food  for  the  brain,  but 
for  the  nerves,  and  which  give  vitality  and  activity. 

From  a collection  of  facts,  which  I will  now  proceed 
to  give,  may,  I think,  be  deduced  an  inference  of  great 
practical  importance,  both  in  regard  to  the  selection  of 
food  adapted  to  different  degrees  of  activity  of  mind 
and  body  in  health,  but  also  adapted  to  different  de- 
grees of  vitality  in  sickness  ; and  as  this,  so  far  as  I 
know,  is  an  application  of  science  to  dietetics  not 


80 


MENTAL  STRENGTH  DEPENDENT  ON  DIET. 


hitherto  made,  and  as,  indeed,  no  such  eflFort  has  been 
made  to  apply  the  plain  laws  of  Nature  to  the  supply 
of  the  natural  wants  of  the  human  system,  as  have 
been  made  by  Johnston  and  others  to  apply  them  to 
the  wants  of  vegetable,  I propose  to  bring  together 
facts,  and  show  the  principles  upon  which  I deduce 
the  corollary  which  I place  at  the  head  of  the  next 
chapter. 

Mental  as  well  as  Physical  Healthy  Strength^  and 
Activity^  can  he  regulated  hy^  as  it  is  to  a great 
extent  dependent  on^  Diet. 

The  vitality  of  plants,  the  muscular  activity  of  all  , 
animals,  and  the  mental  as  well  as  muscular  and 
organic  health  and  vigor  of  man,  depend  on  phosphorus. 
These  are  legitimate  inferences  from  facts,  presented 
clearly,  as  you  shall  see,  in  the  organization  of  plants, 
animals,  and  man. 

In  grains,  and  all  seeds,  the  phosphates  which  give 
vitality,  and  furnish  food  for  the  brain  and  nerves,  re- 
side in  the  germ  or  "chit,”  while  the  fixed  phosphates, 
which  are  devoted  to  bones,  &c.,  are  mixed  with  gluten 
in  the  crust  under  the  hull,  as  seen  in  the  plates  of 
corn  and  wheat.  Figs.  2,  3 &c. 

That  the  phosphates  are  concentrated  in  the  germ  of 
alJ  seeds,  and  that  they  vary  in  different  seeds,  is  easily 
ascertained  by  chemical  tests  applied  to  the  grain  or 
seed,  and  the  drawing  of  these  plates  above  was  sug- 
gested from  experiments  first  made  by  Dr.  Hayes,  of 


PHOSPHATES  IN  SEEDS. 


81 


Boston,  and  then  introduced  by  Dr.  Jackson  into  his 
geological  and  mineralogical  survey  of  New  Hamp- 
shire, in  colored  plates,  showing  the  extent  of  jdios- 
phates  and  other  elements  ; but  I have  not  been  eontent 
without  re-testing,  and  getting  re-drawn,  each  speci- 
men. The  process  is  very  simple,  and  the  discovery  of  it 
very  important,  as  I have  elsewhere  intimated.  In  this 
manner  can  be  shown  just  the  proportion  of  phos- 
phates, nitrates,  and  carbonates  each  seed  contains 
and  therefore  which  is  best  adapted  to  feed  the  muscle, 
and  which  to  feed  the  brain,  and  give  vitality,  and 
which  to  furnish  heat. 

It  is  thus  ascertained  that  some  seeds  and  some  grains 
contain  two  or  three  times  as  much  phosphates  as 
others.  Wheat,  for  example,  contains  two  per  cent., 
while  millet  four  per  cent.  Grass  seed  from  six  to 
seven  per  cent.,  and  some,  as  clover  and  herdsgrass, 
from  seven  to  nine.  In  all  seeds,  and  roots,  and  nuts, 
which  germinate  from  chits  or  eyes,  the  phosphates 
centre  about  these  eyes,  and  what  is  not  found  there  is 
always  found  connected  with  the  muscle-making  part 
of  the  grain  or  fruit,  showing  that  the  phosphates  are 
connected  with  vitality  and  the  life-giving  principle. 

The  same  thing  is  shown  in  animals  by  a test  of  their 
flesh,  and  by  their  manner  of  living.  The  flesh  of 
quadrupeds,  and  birds,  and  Ashes  contain  phosphorus 
in  just  the  proportion  to  their  natural  activity,  wild 
animals  much  more  than  domestic.  The  most  active 
birds,  like  the  pigeon  and  the  migrating  birds,  much 
6 


82 


STRENGTH  OF  INSECTS. 


more  than  domestic  fowls,  and  quiet  and  lazy  birds. 
The  migrating  fishes,  whose  astonishing  muscular  power 
enables  them  to  swim  up  rapids  and  over  falls,  contain 
more  phosphates  than  the  fiounder  and  halibut,  which 
are  clumsy  and  comparatively  dormant. 

Insects  abound  in  phosphorus  in  proportion  to  their 
activity  and  strength  of  muscle,  and  among  them  are 
the  greatest  gymnasts  in  the  world.  The  leap  of  a flea 
is  as  great,  in  proportion  to  size  of  muscle,  as  if  a man 
should  jump  over  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  from  Boston  to 
London;  and  a beetle,  not  weighing  a scruple,  will 
lift  and  move  a junk  bottle,  with  contents,  weighing 
nearly  a pound  — a weight  more  than  one  hundred 
times  as  great,  in  proportion,  as  Dr.  Windship  could 
lift  (and  the  beetle  wears  no  yoke) . Being  wanted  for 
scientific  purposes,  a beetle  was  placed,  for  safe  keep- 
ing, under  a bottle  partly  filled  with  liquid,  in  the 
inverted  cup  made  in  the  bottom  of  the  bottle.  Im- 
mediately the  plucky  little  insect  was  seen  walking  off 
with  the  bottle  on  his  back,  — as  if  the  strong  doctor, 
being  shut  up  in  his  own  office  in  the  basement  of  Park 
Street  Church,  with  a steeple  two  hundred  feet  high, 
should  hoist  the  old  thing,  steeple  and  all,  over  into  the 
cemetery. 


ACTIVE  ANIMALS  EAT  THE  MOST  PHOSPHATES.  ^3 


Quadrupeds^  Birds ^ and  Insects  instinctively  select 
Food  containing  Phosphorus  in  Proportion  to  thai 
of  which  they  are  composed^  and  in  Proportion  to 
their  Activity. 

The  active  bird  lives  on  active  insects  or  small  seeds, 
which  contain  the  most  phosphorus,  while  the  sluggish 
hen  or  robin  is  content  with  corn  or  worms,  which  con- 
tain much  less  of  the  life-giving  element ; and  migratory 
birds,  while  they  remain  quiet,  raising  their  young,  live 
on  worms  and  berries,  but  in  the  fall  get  a supply  of 
strength  for  annual  flight  by  eating  seeds  and  active 
insects.  The  kingbird  is  the  smartest  little  bird  in 
New  England,  and  gets  his  name  from  the  fact  that  he 
governs  all  other  birds,  large  and  small,  or  drives  them 
from  his  domain  if  they  give  him  offence.  Even  the 
hawk,  which  is  such  a terror  to  other  birds,  seems  to  be 
a source  of  amusement  to  the  kingbird.  Many  a time 
have  I seen  this  little  bird,  not  one  tenth  as  large  as 
the  hawk,  flying  just  over  his  back  in  the  air,  keeping 
out  of  his  way  by  superior  activity,  occasionally  poun- 
cing on  him,  and  giving  him  such  annoyance  that  he 
was  glad  to  leave  the  neighborhood  to  escape  his  little 
tormentor.  A brace  of  these  jolly  and  eccentric  little 
kingbirds  are  just  now  affording  inflnite  amusement  to 
the  denizens  and  visitors  of  Chester  Square,  in  Boston.'^ 
Having,  according  to  the  custom  of  other  royal  fami- 
lies, selected  a beautiful  city  residence  for  a part  of 
the  year,  and  having  built  their  nest,  and  the  queen 
being  actively  engaged  in  matters  pertaining  to  the 


* JuDe,  1867. 


84 


THE  KINGBIRD. 


perpetuation  of  royalty,  the  king  is  obliged  to  enter- 
tain visitors.  This  he  does  by  pouncing  on  the  backs 
of  dogs  and  driving  them  from  the  square  ; diving  at 
the  bright  buttons  on  the  policemen’s  coats ; knocking 
off  tall,  black,  awkward  stove-funnel  hats,  &c.,  &c. 
Looking  out  at  my  office  window,  which  looks  over  an 
open  lot  to  the  square,  the  other  day,  I saw  this  king- 
bird pouncing  with  tremendous  vigor  into  a thicket  of 
shrubs,  and  soon  came  out  a big  cat,  escaping,  as  for 
dear  life,  to  the  nearest  shelter,  with  the  little  bird  every 
moment  striking  at  his  back  and  head.  This  little 
kingbird  lives  on  bees  and  hornets, — insects  prover 
bial  for  their  industry,  strength,  and  persevering  activ 
ity,  — and  on  ffies,  whose  activity  keeps  them  up  in  the 
air  for  amusement,  and  the  bird  amuses  himself  in 
catching  them. 

The  wild  pigeon,  which  is  said  to  fly  more  miles  in 
a day  than  any  other  bird,  chooses  for  his  food,  in 
preference  to  all  other  grain,  the  millet  and  barley, 
which  contain  three  times  the  phosphorus  of  other 
grain,  leaving  all  other  grains  untouched  while  these 
can  be  had.  This,  the  boys  in  the  country  understand, 
and  they  take  great  pains  to  use  barley,  millet,  or  grass 
seed  to  decoy  them  to  their  nets ; but  the  domestic 
pigeon,  which  is  comparatively  inactive,  is  content  with 
corr>  or  the  other  grains  containing  much  less  phos- 
phorus ; and  thus  it  is  clearly  established  that  active 
animals  require  food  which  contains  more  phosphorus 
than  inactive  animals,  and  the  inference  is  conclusive 


FOOD  Foil  THE  NERVES. 


8o 


that  man  also  will  have  more  or  less  activity  of  brain 
or  muscle  in  proportion  to  the  elements  he  takes  to  feed 
the  brain  and  muscle. 

In  the  preceding  chapters  we  have  seen  that  in  the 
germ  of  life  is  found  phosphorus  in  proportion  to  the 
future  wants  of  the  plant,  and  that  the  phosphorus  is 
supplied  by,  and  taken  from,  the  soil  as  it  is  required. 
We  have  seen  that  quadrupeds  and  birds  also  depend 
on  phosphorus  for  their  muscular  activity,  and  this  ele- 
ment is  supplied  by  the  seeds  of  plants,  and  by  insects 
and  other  animal  food  containing  it. 

We  come  now  to  consider  that  highest  and  most 
important  order  of  vitality  which  is  peculiar  to  man, 
and  to  see  if  the  same  element,  although  in  a different 
combination,  and  the  same  law  for  applying  it,  does 
not  pertain  to  that,  as  to  the  lower  orders  of  vitality. 

Of  the  solid  matter  of  the  brain,  one  twelfth,  on  an 
average,  is  found  by  chemical  analysis  to  be  phos- 
phorus, and  the  proportion  of  phosphorus  is  found  to 
be  in  proportion  to  mental  development  and  mental 
activity.  A celebrated  French  chemist  has  made  many 
analyses  of  brains  of  children,  idiots,  and  men  of  differ- 
ent degrees  of  intellect  and  mental  activity,  and  the 
uniform  results  were,  that  the  brains  of  those  whose 
minds  were  most  developed  and  active  contained  most 
phosphorus.  I will  transcribe  one  of  his  tables. 


86  WASTE  OE  PHOSPHORUS  BY  MENTAL  EFFORT. 


Composition  of 

Brain  and  Nervous 

Substance. 

In  Infants. 

Youths 

Adnlts. 

Aged. 

Idiots. 

Albumen, 

6.67 

10.20 

9.40 

8.65 

8.40 

Cerebral  fat, 

8.06 

5.30 

6.10 

4.32 

5.00 

Phosphorus, 

Osmazome 

.76 

1.65 

1.80 

1.00 

0.85 

and  salts, 

5.67 

8.59 

10.19 

12.18 

14.82 

Water, 

78.85 

74.26 

72.51 

73.85 

70.93 

100.00 

100.00 

100.00 

100.00 

100.00 

By  this  table  it  is  seen  that  the  brain  of  infants  and 
idiots  contains  less  than  half  the  average  of  that  element 
in  adults. 

Another  fact,  established  also  by  chemical  analysis, 
which,  with  that  above  mentioned,  proves  to  a demon- 
stration that  the  action  of  the  mind  is  dependent  on 
phosphorus,  and  is  subject  to  the  same  law  of  waste 
and  supply  as  other  faculties,  is  the  following : Imme- 
diately after  active  mental  labor  the  excretions  exhibit 
a larger  proportion  of  phosphates  than  at  any  other 
time,  e.  g.,  on  Mondays  and  Tuesdays  in  clergymen, 
and  at  court  times  in  lawyers.  Experiments  of  this 
kind  have  gone  to  show  that  the  amount  of  phosphates 
used  up  and  excreted  is  in  exact  proportion  to  the 
intensity  and  continuance  of  the  mental  effort ; and,  at 
these  times,  observing  clergymen  and  lawyers  have 
told  me  their  aj>petite  calls  for  phosphatic  food,  as  fish, 
rheese,  unbolted  wheat  bread,  oat  meal,  and  barley 


FOOD  FOR  THE  BRAIN. 


87 


cakes,  &c.,  and  some  desire,  and  will  have  made  for 
them,  cakes  of  bran,  which  contain  most  of  all  the 
phosphorus  of  the  grain  from  which  it  is  taken. 

Food  for  the  Braiu  and  Nerves. 

That  mental  and  nervous  power  is  dependent  on  food, 
is  an  idea  that  may  at  first  strike  the  mind  as  absurd, 
and  unworthy  of  investigation ; but  the  same  process 
that  proves  muscles  to  be  dependent  for  development, 
and  vigor,  and  health  on  food  containing  nitrogen, 
proves  the  brain  and  nerves  to  be  dependent  for  the 
development,  and  health,  and  the  vigorous  exercise  of 
their  functions  on  food  containing  phosphorus. 

This  subject,  being  somewhat  new,  and,  as  it  seems 
to  me,  of  vast  importance,  requires  a little  in  detail 
the  reasons  for  the  belief  that  the  same  laws  apply  to 
the  brain  as  to  the  muscular  system,  and  that  as  the 
muscles  can  be  trained,  and  their  power  developed  by 
appropriate  food  as  well  as  appropriate  exercise,  so 
that  the  brains  of  our  children  may  be  developed  in  the 
dining-room  as  well  as  in  the  school-room  — the  caterer 
and  cook  being  important  auxiliaries  to  the  school- 
master. 

All  nature  is  governed  by  one  comprehensive  and 
perfect  system  of  law.  The  law  which  controls  the  cir- 
culation of  sap  in  one  plant  controls  it  in  all  other 
plants.  The  law  by  which  the  bones  of  one  animal  are 
so  constructed  as  to  adapt  them  to  the  conditions  in 
which  the  animal  is  destined  to  live,  is  the  law  which 
governs  the  construction  of  the  bones  of  all  other  ani- 


88  MENTAL  ACTIVITY  DEPENDS  ON  PHOSPHOEUS. 

mals,  so  that  the  naturalist  will  take  a single  bone  of 
any  animal  which  he  has  never  seen,  and  from  it  will 
construct  the  animal  from  which  it  was  taken,  show  his 
disposition,  the  arrangements  of  his  digestive  organs, 
his  habits,  and  the  kind  of  food  on  which  he  was  accus- 
tomed to  live. 

To  apply  this  general  principle  to  the  question  under 
consideration,  we  find  that  wheat  contains  phosphorus, 
which  it  gets  from  the  soil  in  which  it  grows,  and 
which  is  necessary  for  its  development.  If  the  soil  is 
deficient  in  phosphates  the  grain  will  be  deficient  in 
this  element,  and  the  proportions  which  it  contains 
within  certain  limits  are  in  exact  accordance  with  those 
of  the  soil.  Now  the  ultimate  purpose  of  wheat  and 
all  its  elements  is  evidently  to  supply  these  elements  to 
the  human  system,  and  that  a part  of  these  elements 
are  intended  to  give  mental  support,  is  proved,  I think, 
by  the  fact,  that  the  brain  contains  phosphorus  in  pro- 
portion to  its  activity  or  power  of  producing  mental 
efforts,  and  that  phosphorus  is  consumed  and  carried 
from  the  system  in  proportion  to  mental  efforts,  just  as 
muscle  contains  nitrogenous  elements  in  proportion  to 
its  size  and  power ; and  these  elements  are  consumed, 
and  must  be  supplied,  in  proportion  to  muscular  exer- 
cise. That  mental  exercise  does  thus  consume  phos- 
phorus, is  proved,  as  1 have  elsewhere  shown,  by 
chemical  analysis ; proof  of  the  above  assertion  is 
therefore  complete.  Let  any  man  observe  his  feelings 
and  mental  capacity  after  a breakfast  of  white  bread  and 
butter,  or  griddle-cakes  and  sirup,  or  any  other  such 


PRECOCIOUS  CHILDREN. 


89 


carbonaceous  articles  of  food,  and  I am  sure  he  will 
find  himself  unable  to  perform  the  same  mental  labor 
as  he  can  on  a breakfast  of  beefsteak,  or  fish  and 
potatoes,  or  unbolted  bread  and  milk,  or  any  other 
articles  abounding  in  the  phosphates.  Brains  can  no 
more  be  made  or  worked  without  phosphorus  than 
Egyptian  bricks  can  be  made  without  straw. 

Why  not,  then,  apply  these  plain  laws  to  raising 
children,  and  cultivating  their  minds,  as  we  do  to  the 
raising  of  wheat,  and  hens,  and  bees,  and  developing 
their  properties  and  powers. 

No  man  who  understands  his  business  would  expect 
to  raise  wheat  in  soil  in  which  is  no  nitrogen,  lime,  or 
phosphorus,  or  make  hens  profitable  on  food  contain- 
ing no  lime  for  egg  shells,  or  keep  bees  on  a desolate 
island  where  no  flowers  could  be  found.  Why,  then, 
expect  to  develop  brains  on  white  bread,  griddle-cakes, 
and  doughnuts  ? 

Precocious  Children. 

Many  of  the  most  promising  children  are  sacrificed 
to  a desire  to  bring  them  forward  in  advance  of  other 
children,  and  this  desire  is  stimulated  by  natural 
instincts.  Every  living  creature  rejoices  in  the  use 
of  the  faculties  which  God  has  given  it,  ''as  a strong 
man  to  run  a race.”  The  boy  whose  muscles  are  well 
developed  will  never  keep  still,  but  is  ready  for  any- 
thing, good  or  bad,  in  which  he  can  stir  himself.  To 
Buch  a one  study  is  a punishment. 

But  the  boy  whose  muscles  are  feeble,  and  whose 


90  ACTIVE  BIRDS  EAT  MOST  PHOSPHORUS. 

brain  is  largely  developed,  sits  still  and  reads,  and  the 
appetite  of  course  conforms  to  the  kind  and  amount  of 
exercise.  If  he  wastes  his  muscles  by  exercise,  his 
appetite  will  demand  the  muscle-making  nitrates  to 
supply  the  waste.  If  he  exhausts  the  phosphorus  of 
the  brain  by  study,  he  will  desire  phosphatic  food  to 
restore  it.  While  the  fat  and  stupid  boy,  who  has 
neither  muscles  nor  brain,  will  crave  carbonaceous 
articles  to  feed  his  stupidity ; and  indulgence  in  these 
appetites  will  of  course  increase  the  peculiarity. 

I have  seen  the  plucky  little  kingbird,  after  an  hour 
of  extraordinary  exertions  in  driving  from  the  neigh- 
Dorhood  an  intruding  hawk,  devote  the  next  hour  to 
catching  and  eating  bees  and  hornets,  which  abound 
ooth  in  nitrates  and  phosphates,  as  a means  of  restoring 
his  muscular  and  vital  energy ; while  the  dormant 
robin  would  be  content  to  live  on  cherries  and  worms, 
which  contain  very  little  food  for  either  muscle  or 
nerve.  The  bird  is  safe  in  following  his  inclinations ; 
living  as  it  does  according  to  natural  laws,  and  having 
no  abnormal  development  of  faculties,  and  no  abnor- 
mal appetites,  it  can  eat  what  it  desires,  and  as  much, 
with  perfect  impunity. 

But  the  child,  changed  in  its  condition  as  it  may  be 
by  the  ignorance  and  folly  of  its  parents,  even  before 
its  birth,  is  abnormally  developed,  and  of  course  has 
abnormal  appetites. 

Indulging  these  appetites  in  case  of  precocity  of  the 
brain,  of  course  increases  the  excitement  of  the  brain, 
and  the  result  is  inflammation  and  premature  death 


PRECOCIOUS  CHILDREN  AND  PHOSPHATIC  FOOD,  01 


and  so  common  is  this  result,  that  it  is  well  understood 
that  a precocious  child  is  short-lived.  And  is  it  inevi- 
table that  the  fondest  hopes  of  parents  must  always  be 
blasted?  A child  with  a precocious  brain,  or  who  is 
very  forward,  to  use  the  common  expression,  is  of 
course  more  liable  to  dangerous  diseases  of  the  brain 
than  other  children ; but  if  parents  would  give  the 
subject  thought,  and  use  their  reason  in  this,  as  in 
other  less  important  matters,  these  diseases  might  gen- 
erally be  warded  off. 

If  our  eyes  have  been  overworked,  or  are  weak  and 
liable  to  inflammation,  we  avoid  over-using  them,  espe- 
cially in  too  strong  light ; and  if  so  inflamed  that  the 
light,  and  all  use  of  them  gives  pain,  we  shut  out  the 
light  altogether,  and  give  them  rest  till  they  recover. 
Both  light  and  seeing  are  pleasant  to  the  eyes  in 
health,  and  absolutely  necessary  to  give  them  health 
and  strength,  but  when  diseased,  are  both  alike  inju- 
rious, and  we  avoid  the  influence  of  both  till  they 
recover.  And  when  only  weiik,  and  not  absolutely 
diseased,  we  are  careful  to  have  the  light,  or  use  the 
eye  only  moderately  and  carefully.  So  of  any  other 
organ  or  faculty,  that  which  is  necessary  to  it  in 
health,  must  be  carefully  used  in  tendency  to  disease, 
and  abstained  from  in  actual  disease. 

Apply  this  principle  to  a precocious  brain.  The 
brain  is  as  dependent  on  appropriate  exercise,  and  a 
supply  of  phosphorus  in  health,  as  is  the  eye  on  exer- 
cise and  light;  and  as  we  withdraw  the  exercise  and 
hght  from  the  eye  in  weakness  and  disease,  so  should 


92 


EFFECTS  OF  CAEBONACEOUS  FOOD. 


we  allow  the  brain  to  rest  from  exercise  and  phosphatic 
food  in  case  of  disease  or  predisposition  to  disease. 

A child  with  a precocious  brain  would  probably 
desire  fish,  lean  meats,  beans  and  peas,  &c.,  in  which 
phosphorus  abounds  ; and  while  in  health  and  perfectly 
developed,  this  desire  would  be  an  indication  that  these 
articles  of  food  were  good  and  necessary ; but  when  the 
desire  is  the  result  of  too  great  activity  of  the  brain,  it 
should  be  more  or  less  scrupulously  and  perfectly  re- 
sisted in  proportion  to  the  degree  of  precocity,  and  we 
should  give  instead  cooling  fruits  and  vegetables,  with 
bread  and  milk,  and  other  articles  containing  starch 
and  sugar,  to  furnish  the  necessary  heat,  more  or  less, 
according  to  the  temperature  in  which  he  lives,  instead 
of  fat,  and  oils,  and  butter,  in  which  the  carbonates  are 
more  concentrated  and  more  stimulating. 

Of  the  effects  of  diet  mostly  carbonaceous,  we  can 
judge  from  the  testimony  of  Rev.  Mr.  Dali,  missionary 
at  Calcutta.  In  describing  the  character  and  habits  of 
Asiatics,  who  live  mostly  on  rice,  an  article  containing, 
as  you  will  see  by  the  analysis,  very  little  else  than 
starch,  and  therefore  very  like  our  superfine  fiour,  he 
says,  With  the  thermometer  at  one  hundred  degrees 
in  the  day  time,  and  eighty-five  to  eighty-eight  in  the 
night,  wakefulness  is  the  exception  and  drowsing  is  the 
rule  — the  poor,  old  or  young,  who  brings  you  a note 
from  his  ' master  ’ (a  word  in  which  Asiatic  reverence 
delights) , no  sooner  delivers  it  than  he  flings  himself 
on  his  back  at  full  length,  and  is  sound  asleep  in  three 
quarters  of  a minute,  so  that  it  is  hard  to  arouse  him  if 


MUSCULAR  ACTIVITY. 


93 


you  are  five  minutes  penning  your  reply.  This  Indian 
faculty  of  literally  dropping  asleep  used  to  make  me 
smile ; but  IVe  g.ot  used  to  it.  I now  expect  to  see 
Bengal  ' gentlemen  ’ asleep  in  their  carriages  on  their 
way  to  office,  and  less  wealthy,  as  a matter  of  course, 
asleep  in  their  palanquins.  When  the  rajahs,  &c.,  see 
English  people  dancing  at  the  Government  House,  they 
ask,  in  wonder,  'Why  not  let  your  servants  do  this?’ 
' Eternal  sleep  is  the  bliss  of  God  — and  never  be  born 
again  V is  Hindooism,  is  Buddhism,  is  Asianism,  is  the 
Oriental,  as  compared  with  our  idea  of  religion.” 

That  this  stupidity  is  not  induced  entirely  by  the 
climate,  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  the  English  never 
become  so  by  a residence  there,  however  long,  and  by 
the  fact  that  other  people  who  live  on  less  carbona- 
ceous food,  in  climates  equally  hot,  are  not  thus  inac- 
tive and  sleepy ; but  it  is  the  legitimate  effect,  as  I 
have  elsewhere  explained,  of  living  on  food  that  has 
no  nourishment  for  brain  or  muscle. 

Precocity  of  Muscular  Activity. 

This  is  less  dangerous,  as  the  steam  of  vital  force 
can  be  let  off  through  the  muscles  till  it  is  exhausted, 
without  much  danger,  except  to  outsiders.  Still  the 
same  law  pertains  to  the  muscles  as  to  the  brain,  and, 
as  a matter  of  convenience,  at  least  to  parents  and 
schoolmast^^’^^,  such  boys  should  be  limited  in  their 
supply  or  muscle-making  materials,  and  might  be 
indulged  to  a greater  extent  with  the  carbonates.  Let 


94 


AMOUNT  OF  FOOD  NEEDED. 


them  fill  the  stomach  with  crackers  and  milk,  or  vege- 
tables and  fat  pork,  and  there  would  be  no  room  for 
nitrogenous  articles  of  food  — or,  at  least,  they  could 
not  be  over-stimulated  by  them. 

The  daily  Amount  of  Food  necessary,  and  the  Pro- 
portion of  Nitrates  and  Carbonates. 

Experience  sustains  fully  the  chemical  and  physio- 
logical deductions  of  the  preceding  chapters.  Animals 
have  been  fed  on  pure  starch,  or  sugar,  or  fat  alone, 
and  they  gradually  pined  away  and  died ; and  the 
nitrates  in  all  the  fine  flour  bread  which  the  animal  can 
eat  will  not  sustain  life  beyond  fifty  days ; but  others, 
fed  on  unbolted  flour  bread,  would  continue  to  thrive  for 
an  indefinite  period.  It  is  immaterial  whether  the  gen- 
eral quantity  of  food  be  reduced  too  low,  or  whether 
either  of  the  muscle-making  or  heat-producing  princi- 
ples be  withdrawn  while  the  other  is  fully  supplied. 
In  either  case  the  effect  will  be  the  same.  The  animal 
will  become  weak,  dwindle  away,  and  die  sooner  or 
later,  according  to  the  deficiency ; and  if  food  is  eaten 
which  is  deficient  in  either  principle,  the  appetite  will 
demand  it  in  quantity  till  the  deficient  element  is  sup- 
plied. All  the  food,  therefore,  beyond  the  amount 
necessary  to  supply  the  principle  that  is  not  deficient, 
is  not  only  wasted,  but  burdens  the  system  with  efforts 
to  dispose  of  it.  Food,  therefore,  containing  the  right 
proportion  of  heaters  and  muscle-makers  is  not  only 
best,  but  most  economical. 


EFFECTS  OF  DIFFEEENT  KINDS  OF  FOOD.  95 

To  make  this  statement  plain,  suppose  we  have  a 
meal  composed  of  roast  beef,  rare,  with  potatoes  and 
dish  gravy,  and  as  much  of  unbolted  wheat  bread,  or 
rye  and  Indian,  and  fruits,  and  cheese,  and  perhaps, 
if  the  beef  be  lean,  or  with  green  vegetables,  butter 
or  fat  pork,  to  give  them  their  heating  principles.  Of 
such  a meal  the  appetite  would  be  satisfied  with  just 
the  amount  of  food  necessary  to  supply  either  the  heat- 
ing or  the  muscle-making  principles,  and  they  would 
be  taken  in  the  right  proportions. 

But  suppose,  instead,  we  tried  to  satisfy  the  appetite 
with  a meal  composed  of  fried  fat  pork  and  potatoes, 
fine  wheat  bread  and  butter,  griddle-cakes  and  sirup  — 
articles  almost  entirely  destitute  of  food  for  muscle 
or  brain.  When  the  stomach  was  filled  with  these 
articles,  there  would  still  be  a demand  for  the 
nitrates  or  phosphates,  and  we  should  still  crave 
some  article  to  supply  the  deficiency,  and  all  the 
carbonates  above  those  which  the  system  required 
would  be  wasted. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  we  ate  only  lean  meat,  or  fish, 
and  green  vegetables  and  fruits,  which  are  deficient  in 
carbonates,  we  should  require  a quantity  of  these  arti- 
cles in  proportion  to  that  deficiency,  or  the  lungs  would 
not  be  supplied  with  fuel  suflScient  to  " run  the  ma- 
chine.” But  in  Boston,  and  probably  in  all  American 
cities,  a large  part  of  the  expenses  of  the  table  are  for 
butter,  superfine  fiour,  and  sugar,  neither  of  which  con- 
tains enough  of  the  muscle  or  brain-feeding  element 
to  sustain  life  over  fifty  days,  as  has  been  proved  by 


96 


MIXTURE  OF  DIFFERENT  ELEMENTS. 


experiment  with  flour,  while  butter  and  sugar  would 
not  sustain  life  a single  month  without  other  food. 

As  far  as  we  have  articles  of  food  deficient  in  car- 
bonates, we  can  use,  without  loss,  butter  or  sugar  to 
supply  the  deficiency;  but  most  of  our  natural  food, 
both  animal  and  vegetable,  contains  a due  propor- 
tion, and  if  with  them  we  use  butter  or  sugar,  they 
cannot  be  appropriated  by  the  system,  and  are  there- 
fore lost. 

All  meats,  fat  and  lean  together,  all  grains  and 
milk,  contain  all  the  carbonates  that  are  needed  or 
can  be  used  to  furnish  heat  in  moderate  weather.  All 
the  butter  or  sugar,  therefore,  that  is  added  to  either 
of  these  common  articles  of  food,  as  they  are  used  in 
making  cakes,  custards,  pies,  &c.,  are  not  only  lost, 
but  by  adding  too  much  fuel,  increase  the  tendency  to 
inflammations,  embarrass  the  stomach,  and  induce  dys- 
pepsia, congestions,  obstructions,  &c. 

With  beefsteak,  or  any  lean  meats,  or  fish,  or  pota- 
toes, or  any  green  vegetables,  or  dried  beans  or  peas, 
some  oily  substance  seems  to  be  needed,  as  all  these 
articles  are  deficient  in  carbon,  and  in  common  use  we 
have  the  choice  between  lard,  sweet  oil,  or  butter,  or 
perhaps  fat  pork,  all  of  which  are  precisely  alike  in 
chemical  construction,  and  that  one  is  most  wholesome 
which  is  best  relished. 

Sugar  also  is  needed  with  the  acid  fruits  and  berries, 
and  especially  with  apples,  which  in  New  England  are 
the  most  valuable  of  all  fruits,  either  with  or  without 
cooking,  and  which,  with  sugar,  furnish  excellent  food, 


THE  MINIMUM  OF  NECESSAEY  FOOD. 


97 


especially  in  winter  and  spring,  when  other  fruit  cannot 
be  had.  But  to  find  a good  use  for  superfine  flour,  out 
of  which  has  been  taken  nine  tenths  of  its  food  for 
muscle  or  brains,  is  exceedingly  difficult,  indeed,  im- 
possible in  health ; and  it  can  only  be  useful  in  disease 
where  the  irritability  of  the  stomach  or  bowels  forbids 
the  use  of  their  natural  stimulant,  just  as  inflammation 
of  the  eye  makes  it  necessary  to  exclude  the  light. 

Experiments  on  Prisoners  as  to  the  Amount  of  Food 
needed. 

The  best  test  of  the  influence  of  kind  and  quantity 
of  food  in  sustaining  life  and  health  can  be  made  in 
prisons,  where  the  habits  are  all  alike,  and  where  the 
test  can  be  made  on  a large  scale.  In  five  prisons  in 
Scotland  experiments  were  made  to  ascertain  the  small- 
est amount  of  food,  and  the  proportions  of  nitrates  and 
carbonates,  that  would  keep  the  prisoner  up  to  his 
weight  while  doing  nothing,  with  results  as  shown  in 
the  following  table  : — 


Muscle-making  Food, 
Nitrates. 

Heat-producing  Food. 
Carbonates. 

Total  Food 
given  each  Day 

Edinburgh, 

4.  oz. 

13.  oz. 

17.  oz. 

Glasgow, 

4.06 

12.58 

16.84 

Aberdeen, 

3.98 

13.03 

17.67 

Stirling, 

4.27 

13.04 

17.67 

Dundee, 

2.75 

14. 

16.75 

7 


98 


EXPERIMENT  ON  PRISONERS. 


Percentage  of  Prisoners  who  lost  or  gained  Weight. 

Edinburgh.  — 18  lost  l^lbs.  each;  82  held  their  own 
or  gained  weight. 

Glasgow.  — 33  lost  4 lbs.  each;  67  held  their  own 
or  gained  weight. 

Aberdeen.  — 34  lost  4 lbs.  2 oz.  each ; 66  held  their 
own  or  gained  weight. 

Stirling.  — 34  lost  4 lbs.  2 oz.  each ; 66  held  their 
own  or  gained  weight. 

Dundee.  — 50  lost  4 lbs.  5 oz.  each;  50  held  their 
own  or  gained  weight. 

The  above  is  the  result  of  observations  for  a term  of 
imprisonment  for  two  months. 

The  Effect  on  Prisoners  of  substituting  Molasses  for 

Milk. 

It  is  a remarkable  fact,  which  shows  the  importance 
of  connecting  science  with  practice,  that  the  deteriora- 
tion in  the  quality  of  the  diet  in  Dundee  prison  con- 
sisted in  substituting  molasses  for  milk,  which  had 
been  previously  used  with  oat-meal  porridge  and  oat- 
meal cakes,  molasses  being  entirely  destitute  of  muscle- 
making material,  while  milk  contains  a full  proportion 
of  these  important  principles.  This  one  experiment, 
and  its  results,  are  worthy  of  study  by  every  mother 
and  every  housekeeper  in  the  land.  If  any  class  of 
persons  would  suffer  less  than  others  from  the  use  of 


MOLASSES  AND  MILK. 


99 


too  much  carbonaceous  and  too  little  nitrogenous  food, 
it  would  be  that  class  who  are  idle ; and  yet  the  one 
hundred  prisoners  of  Dundee,  with  one  ounce  a day 
more  of  the  fat  and  heat-making  principle  than  those 
of  Edinburgh,  lost  two  hundred  and  seventeen  and  one 
half  pounds,  while  the  same  number  in  Edinburgh  lost 
only  twenty-seven  pounds ; the  difference  in  their  diet 
being,  as  stated  in  the  report,  that  the  prisoners  of 
Edinburgh  had  milk  ^ with  their  porridge  and  cakes, 
while  those  of  Dundee  had  molasses  instead. 

If  the  same  experiment  had  been  tried  on  men  in 
active  life,  or  on  children,  who  are  never  still  except 
when  asleep,  the  results  would  have  been  more  remark- 
able, in  proportion  to  the  greater  waste  of  muscle  in 
those  who  are  active,  and  the  greater  demand  for  nitro- 
genous food ; and  yet  how  few  mothers  stop  to  consider, 
or  take  pains  to  know,  whether  gingerbread,  made  of 
fine  flour,  which  has  but  a trace  of  food  for  muscle  or 
brain,  and  sugar  or  molasses,  and  perhaps  butter, 
which  have  none,  or  cakes  made  with  unbolted  wheat, 
mixed  with  milk  or  buttermilk,  all  of  which  abound  in 
muscle  and  brain-feeding  materials,  is  the  best  food  for 
a growing,  active  child ; indeed,  the  whole  food  of  the 
child  is  given  with  the  same  want  of  knowledge  or  con- 
sideration. 

But,  in  view  of  these  simple  experiments  in  the 
Scotch  prisons,  who  can  doubt  that  a want  of  consid- 
eration of  these  principles  of  diet  is  the  means  of  con- 
signing to  the  tomb  many  of  our  most  promising 
children.  An  intelligent  farmer  knows  how  to  feed 


100 


FOOD  IN  ACTITE  LIFE. 


his  land,  his  horses,  his  cattle,  and  his  pigs ; but  not 
how  to  feed  his  children.  He  knows  that  fine  flour  is 
not  good  for  pigs,  and  he  gives  them  the  whole  of  the 
grain,  or  perhaps  takes  out  the  bran  and  coarser  part, 
which  contains  food  for  muscles  and  brains,  and  gives 
them  to  his  pigs,  while  the  fine  flour,  which  contains 
neither  food  for  brain  or  muscle,  he  gives  to  his  chil- 
dren. He  separates  also  the  milk,  and  gives  his  pigs 
the  skim-milk  and  buttermilk,  in  which  are  found  all 
the  elements  for  muscle  and  brain,  and  gives  his  chil- 
dren the  butter,  which  only  heats  them  and  makes  them 
inactive,  without  furnishing  a particle  of  the  nutriment 
which  they  need. 

The  Amount  and  Proportion  of  Muscle-making  and 
Heat-producing  Elements  of  Food  in  Active  Em- 
ployments. 

We  see  by  the  preceding  table  that  prisoners,  with- 
out exercise,  could  not  be  sustained  with  an  amount  of 
food  short  of  four  ounces  nitrogenous  food  and  thirteen 
ounces  carbonaceous ; all  short  of  that  amount  being 
insufficient  to  supply  the  waste,  and  the  remainder  was 
drawn  from  the  body  itself,  constantly  diminishing  in 
its  weight ; and  that,  whether  the  diminution  was  in  the 
nitrates  or  carbonates. 

To  supply  four  ounces  nitrogen  and  thirteen  ounces 
carbon  in  the  most  concentrated  food,  requires  of — 


HOW  TO  GET  THE  REQUISITE  AMOUNT  OF  FOOD.  101 


Weight, 

Nitrates. 

Carbonates. 

Lean  beefsteak. 

. 4 oz. 

1 oz. 

0 oz. 

Fat  pork,  or  fat  of  beef, 
any  meat,  .... 

or 

. 2 

0 

2 

Unbolted  wheat  bread, 

. 8 

1 

5 

Beans  or  peas,  .... 

. 8 

2 

4 

Butter, 

. 2 

0 

2 

— 

— 

— 

IJ  lbs., 

or  24  oz. 

4oz. 

13  oz. 

— 

— 

— 

With  active  exercise. 

00 

8 

26* 

— 

— 

— 

Active  exercise  in  winter. 

oo 

10 

31 1 

Food  thus  concentrated  would  be  adapted  only  to  the 
most  active  employment  in  the  coldest  weather.  Let 
us,  therefore,  make  another  bill  of  fare,  in  which  we 
shall  get  the  thirteen  ounces  carbonates  and  four  ounces 
nitrates  in  a form  adapted  to  warm  weather. 


Weight. 

Nitrates. 

Carbonates. 

Codfish,  .... 

4 oz. 

1 OZ. 

0 oz. 

Potatoes, 

11b. 

ioz. 

3 oz. 

Wheat  bread,  . . 

fib. 

1^  oz. 

8 oz. 

Green  vegetables  and 
fruits,  .... 

11b. 

1 oz. 

0 oz.  30  grs, 

Milk, 

11b. 

foz. 

|oz. 

Sugar,  .... 

ioz. 

0 

i oz. 

Butter 

1 OZ. 

0 

1 oz. 

— 

— 

— 

5|-lbs. 

4 oz. 

13  oz. 

* In  moderate  weather  the  waste  is  double, 
t In  New  England  one  fifth  more  in  winter  than  in  summer. 


102  NOUEISH3IENT  IN  ONE  POUND  OF  WHEAT. 


This  bill  would  be  extremely  diluted,  as  the  first  is 
extremely  concentrated ; but  both  together  will  show 
how  greatly  our  food  can  be  varied  in  quantity  to  get 
the  same  amount  of  nourishment.  And  with  the  fol- 
lowing tables,  with  a little  study,  would  enable  a house- 
keeper to  adapt  the  amount  and  variety  of  food  to  be 
provided  to  the  number  and  circumstances  of  her  family. 

Average  amount  Nutriment  in  One  Pound  of  Wheat. 
Water, 2 oz.  215  gr. 


Gluten, "I 

Albumen,  . . . .J 
Starch, 

Y Nitrates. 
1 

Sugar,  

^ Carbonates. 

Fat, J 

1 1 

Fibre,  ^ 

Gum, J 

f-  Waste. 

Mineral  matter,  . 

Phosphates. 

0 

146 

215 

0 

52 

104 

104 

108 


Amount  of  Nutriment  in  One  Pound  of  Rye. 


Water, 

2 oz. 

35 

Gluten, "1 

1 

r 1 

318 

> Nitrates.  < 

L 0 

213 

Albumen,  . . . .J 

Starch, ^ 

' 8 

79 

Sugar, 

Carbonates.^ 

0 

262 

®^^t, ^ 

. 0 

66 

Gum, "j 

I- Waste.  j 

' 0 

371 

Woody  fibre,  . .J 

. 1 

284 

Mineral  matter,  . 

Phosphates. 

0 

122 

SOUTHERN  AND  NORTHERN  CORN. 


103 


The  average  Amount  of  Nxitriment  in  One  Pound  of 
Northern  Corn  {Maize). 


Water, 

2 oz. 

105  gr. 

Gluten, 

Nitrate. 

1 

402 

Starch, ^ 

^ 9 

262 

Sugar, 

>>  Carbonates.  < 

0 

21 

/ 

Fat,* ^ 

. 1 

101 

Woody  fibre,  . . 

Waste. 

0 

350 

Mineral  matter,  . 

Phosphates. 

0 

70 

The  average  Amount  of  Nutriment  in  One  Pound  of 
Southern  Corn. 

Water, 

3 oz. 

Ogr. 

Gluten, 

Nitrate. 

4 

215 

Starch, *] 

1 

f ^ 

218 

Sugar, 

> Carbonates.^ 

200 

Fat,  ^ 

1 

1 0 

20 

Woody  fibre,  . ."i 

i- Waste.  \ 

r 1 

21 

Gum, J 

1 1 

l 0 

200 

Mineral  matter,  . 

Phosphates. 

0 

250 

♦ Or  oil,  two  and  one  half  times  more  fattening  than  starch  of 

lugar. 


104 


BAKLEY,  OATS,  AND  BEANS. 


The  Amount  of  Nutriment  in  One  Pound  of  Barley. 


Water, 

Gluten, ^ 

Albumen,  . ...  J 
Starch, ■' 

^ Nitrates.  j 

1 

2 oz.  215 

f 2 110 

L 0 100 

r 7 215 

Sugar, 

Carbonates.  ^ 

0 

215 

Fat, ^ 

1 

1 0 

30 

Mineral  matter,  . 

Phosphates. 

0 

215 

Average  Amount  Nutriment  in  One  Pound  Oat  Meal. 
Water, 2oz.  100  gr. 


Nitrates.  -|^ 


Gluten,  . . , 

Albumen,  . . 

Sugar,  . . , 

Starch, ^Carbonates. 

Fat,  .... 


2 

0 

0 

0 

0 


0 

350 

360 

100 

360 


Mineral  Matter,  . 

Phosphates. 

0 

200 

! Amount  of  Nutriment  in  One  Pound  of  Bet 

Water, 

2 oz. 

161 

Casein, 

Nitrates. 

3 

368 

Starch, '] 

' 5 

333 

Sugar, 

Carbonates.  < 

0 

140 

Fat 

. 0 

140 

Wo'ody  fibre,  . 

^ Waste.  j 

r 1 

206 

Gum, J 

L 1 

157 

Mineral  matter,  . 

Phosphates. 

0 

245 

PEAS  AND  BUCKWHEAT. 


105 


The  Amount  of  Nutriment  in  One  Pound  of  Peas. 


Water, 

2 oz. 

112  gr, 

Casein, 

Nitrates. 

3 

324 

Starch, ^ 

^ 5 

403 

Sugar, 

Carbonates. 

0 

140 

Fat,  

. 0 

140 

Woody  fibre,  . 

>•  Waste.  \ 

r 1 

263 

Gum, J 

1 

L 1 

193 

Mineral  matter,  . 

Phosphates. 

0 

175 

Amount  of  Nutriment  in  One  Pound  of  Buckwheat. 


Water, 

2 oz. 

118  gr, 

Gluten, 

Nitrates. 

1 

165 

Starch, ' 

' 8 

0 

Sugar, 

Carbonates. -< 

0 

140 

Fat, , 

. 0 

70 

Gum, 1 

> Waste.  \ 

r 0 

140 

Fibre,  J 

1 

i 0 • 

126 

Mineral  matter,  . 

Phosphates. 

0 

126 

BICE  AND  POTATOES, 


The  Amount  of  Nutriment  in  One  Pound  of  Rice. 


Water, 

2 oz. 

26  gr. 

Gluten, 

Nitrates. 

1 

0 

Starch, 

'11 

360 

Sugar, 

>•  Carbonates.  < 

0 

370 

Fat, ^ 

. 0 

30 

Gum,  ■] 

► Waste.  \ 

r 0 

40 

Fibre,  J 

1 

1 0 

215 

Mineral  matter,  . 

0 

20 

Amount  of  Nutriment  in  One  Pound  of  Potatoes. 

Water, 

12  oz. 

Ogr. 

Starch, ^ 

' 2 

205 

Sugar, 

Carbonates. 

0 

215 

Fat, ^ 

. 0 

2 

Albumen,  .... 

Nitrates. 

0 

142 

Woody  fibre,  . ."l 

> Waste.  \ 

r 0 

354 

Gum,  . . , . . .J 

1 

L 0 

20 

Mineral  matter,  . 

Phosphates. 

0 

354 

SWEET  POTATOES. 


107 


Amount  Nutriment  in  One  Pound  of  Sweet  Potatoes, 


Ounces. 

Grains. 

Water,  .... 

10 

340 

Starch, 'l 

' 2 

249 

Sugar, > Carbonates.-: 

1 

277 

Fat,  J 

. 0 

18 

Albumen,  ....  Nitrates. 

0 

105 

Fibre,  . , . . .'i  i 

r 0 

35 

1 Waste. 

Gum, J 1 

L 0 

77 

Mineral  matter,  . Phosphates. 

0 

210 

Amount  of  Nutriment  in  One  Pound  of  Parsnips. 


Water,  .... 

13 

53 

Albumen,  . . . 

Nitrates.  0 

87 

Sugar,  .... 

f 0 

210 

Starch,  .... 

Carbonates.  < 0 

245 

Fat, 

• J 

1 0 

35 

Fibre, 

0 

f 1 

123 

1 

Waste. 

Gum, 

J 

1 0 

52 

Mineral  matter. 

Phosphates.  0 

70 

108 


TUENIPS.  — CAEEOTS. 


The  Amount  of  Nutriment  in  One  Pound  of  Turnips, 


Water, 

Ounces. 

14 

Grains. 

213 

Albumen,  &c.,  . 

Nitrates. 

0 

77 

Sugar, 

Carbonates. 

0 

28 

Gum, .'I 

1 

r 0 

107 

Fibre, J 

^ Waste. 

(o 

168 

Mineral  matter,  . 

Phosphates. 

0 

35 

Amount  of  Nutriment  in  One  Pound  of  Carrots. 

Water, 

14 

6 

Albumen,  .... 

Nitrates. 

0 

42 

Sugar, 1 

) 1 

11 

Fat, j 

Carbonates. 

} 0 

14 

Gum, 

1 ( 

- 0 

70 

Fibre, J 

^ Waste.  < 

. 0 

231 

Mineral  matter,  . 

Phosphates. 

0 

70 

Amount  of  Nutriment  in  One  Pound  of  Cow’s  Milk 

Water, 

13 

533 

Casein, 

Nitrates, 

0 

350 

Butter, 1 

f 

■ 0 

245 

Sugar J 

Carbonates,  s 

. 0 

215 

Mineral  matter,  . 

Phosphates. 

0 

70 

MILK. 


109 


Amount  of  Nutriment  in  One  Pound  of  Human  Milh, 


Ounces. 

Grains. 

Water, 

14 

41 

Casein, 

Nitrates. 

0 

210 

Butter, "1 

^Carbonates.  > 

0 

210 

Sugar, J 

f J 

0 

300 

Mineral  matter. 

Phosphates. 

0 

35 

Amount  of  Nutriment  in  One  Pound 

of  Goafs  Milk. 

Water, 

10 

0 

Casein, 

Nitrates. 

0 

325 

Butter, "1 

[ Carbonates.  ^ 

0 

230 

Sugar, J 

1 L 

0 

280 

Mineral  matter,  . 

Phosphates. 

0 

70 

The  casein  and  phosphates  are  in  larger  proportions 
in  the  milk  of  the  cow  and  goat  than  in  human  milk, 
to  adapt  them  to  the  different  conditions  of  their  young. 
The  calf  and  the  kid,  being  active  from  their  birth,  re- 
quire the  nitrates  for  feeding  the  muscles,  and  the  phos- 
phates for  vital  power,  at  first ; while  the  child,  being 
dormant  and  helpless,  requires  less  of  these  principles ; 
and  therefore,  to  substitute  the  milk  of  the  cow  or  goat 
for  food  for  the  child,  about  one  third  water  is  required, 
and  a little  sugar  — a little  more  for  cow’s  than  goat’s 
milk,  — but  the  difference  between  the  milk  of  the  cow 


110 


ANIMAL  FOOD. 


and  that  of  the  goat  is  too  little  to  make  it  an  object  to 
be  at  much  trouble  for  the  choice.  The  proportions 
vary  in  different  cows,  and  therefore  it  is  important, 
in  raising  children  on  cow’s  milk,  to  get  the  milk  that 
suits,  and  then  use  the  same  cow’s  milk  constantly. 

The  Four  Principal  Meats,  of  average  Fatness,  com- 
pared  with  Vegetable  Food. 

The  Amount  of  Nutriment  in  One  Pound  of  Beef  of 
average  Fatness. 


Ounces.  Grains. 


Water,  . . . 
Fibrin  and  1 

1 

8 

0 

1 

rEqual  to  same  am’t 

Albumen,  J 

r Nitrates. 

1 

122 1 

casein,  gluten,  or 
j albumen  — 1 oz. 
L 122  grs. 

'Equal  to  24  times 

Fat,  .... 

Carbonates. 

4 

340 

as  much  sugar  or 
starch,  or  11  oz. 

Mineral,  . . 

Phosphates. 

0 

350 

. 75  grs. 

Gelatine,  . . 

Waste. 

1 

122 

The  Amount  of  Nutriment 

in 

One  Pound  of  Yeah 

Ounces.  Grains. 

Water,  . . . 
Fibrin  and  ^ 

1 

10 

9 

Albumen,  J 

r Nitrates. 

1 

199 

'Equal  to  24  times 

Fat,  .... 

Carbonates. 

2 

281- 

as  much  sugar  or 
starch — 6oz.265 

Mineral,  . . 

Phosphates. 

0 

312 

, grs. 

Gelatine,  . . 

Waste. 

1 

82 

MUTTON. PORK. 


Ill 


The  Amount  of  Nutriment  in  One  Pound  of  Mutton,, 


Ounces.  Grains. 


Water,  . . . 

7 

16 

Fibrin  and  1 

V 

Nitrates. 

0 

385 

Albumen,  J 

Fat,  .... 

Carbonates. 

6 

176 

Gelatine,  . . 

Waste. 

1 

52 

Mineral,  . . 

Phosphates. 

0 

241 

'Equal  to  2i  times 
as  much  sugar  or 
starch  — 16  oz^, 
. or  1 lb. 


The  Amount  of  Nutriment  in  One  Pound  of  Porh. 


Ounces.  Grains. 

Water,  ...  6 69 


Fibrin  and 
Albumen, 
Fat,  . . . . 
Gelatine,  . . 


} 


Nitrates. 

Carbonates. 

Waste. 


0 

8 

0 


315 

0 

315 


(Equal  to  2J  times 
as  much  sugar  or 
starch  — 20  oz., 
or  1^  lbs. 


Mineral,  . . Phosphates.  0 312 


Rations  for  the  English  Soldier. — The  amount  and 
proportion  of  carbonates  and  nitrates  necessary  to  keep 
the  English  soldier  in  a fighting  condition,  are  found  to 
be  five  ounces  of  nitrates  to  twenty  ounces  carbonates ; 
and  this  amount  is  therefore  daily  furnished,  both  in 
England  and  in  India,  and  the  English  colonies ; and 
the  English  sailor  has  the  same  allowance. 

Rations  of  the  Dutch  Soldier.  — When  in  war,  it  is 
five  ounces  of  nitrates  and  twenty-one  ounces  carbo- 
nates ; bui  when  in  peace,  or  in  garrison,  it  is  only  three 


112 


soldiers’  rations. 


and  one  half  ounces  nitrates  and  twenty  ounces  carbo- 
nates ; but  with  this  diet  he  is  below  fighting  condition. 

Rations  of  the  French  Soldier,  — The  diet  of  the 
French  soldier  is  very  different  from  that  of  the  Eng- 
lish or  Dutch,  they  using  much  more  of  liquid  food; 
still  the  proportion  or  amount  of  nitrates  and  carbo- 
nates is  not  very  dissimilar.  He  gets  about  four  and 
three  fourths  ounces  nitrates  and  twenty-four  ounces 
carbonates,  and  on  this  is  always  kept  in  a fighting 
condition  — probably  wasting  three  or  four  ounces  of 
the  carbonates. 

English  Soldiers  in  the  Chelsea  Hospital  have  their 
nitrates  reduced  to  three  or  four  ounces,  but  their  car- 
bonates remain  the  same ; as  also  the  sailor  in  the 
Greenwich  Hospital ; but,  having  no  exercise,  they 
need  less  carbonates  as  well  as  less  nitrates,  it  being 
known  that  the  demand  for  both  nitrates  and  carbo- 
nates is  equally  increased  or  diminished  in  proportion 
to  the  amount  of  exercise. 

Rations  of  Greenwich  Pensioners.  — They  have 
three  and  one  half  ounces  nitrates  and  twenty  ounces 
carbonates. 

Rations  of  Chelsea  Pensioners.  — They  have  four 
and  one  half  ounces  nitrates  and  twenty  and  one  fourth 
ounces  carbonates. 

Rations  of  Old  Men  of  Gillespids  Hospital ^ Edin- 
burgh.— They  have  three  ounces  nitrates  and  twenty 
ounces  carbonates. 

Rations  of  Paupers.  — In  all  the  workhouses  of 
England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland,  the  average  is  daily 


HOSPITAL  EATIONS. 


113 


three  and  one  half  ounces  nitrates  and  sixteen  and  one 
half  ounces  carbonates. 

Rations  of  Boys  of  Ten  Years  old,  — In  the  English 
schools  two  and  one  half  ounces  nitrates  and  fifteen 
ounces  carbonates  are  allowed  daily. 

Rations  of  Boys  in  Christas  Hospital  in  London,— 
Only  two  and  one  half  ounces  nitrates  and  fourteen 
ounces  carbonates  are  allowed ; but  the  average  age  is 
not  stated. 


Massachusetts  State  Prison,  Average  Number  of 
Prisoners^  545.  Food  consumed  in  one  Weelc  : — 


Pounds. 

Each  man. 
lbs.  oz. 

Carbonates, 
lbs.  oz. 

Nitrates. 

oz. 

Flour,  13  bbls.  • 

2600 

5 

0 

4 

2 

6 

Meal,  60  bush.  . 

3000 

5 

8 

3 

8 

8 

Beans,  9 ‘‘  . . 

576 

1 

0 

0 

8 

5 

Peas,  3 ‘‘  . . 

192 

0 

5 

0 

1| 

Rice, 

306 

1 

8 

0 

7 

Potatoes,  100  . . 

6000 

10 

0 

2 

8 

o|- 

Fresh  beef,  .... 

925 

1 

8 

0 

7 

3 

Fish  (fresh  and  salt) , . 

1100 

2 

0 

0 10 

4 

Fat  pork,  .... 

525 

1 

0 

1 

0 

0 

Hard  bread,  .... 

40 

0 

1 

0 

1 

n 

Lard, 

, 60 

0 

2 

0 

2 

0 

28  00  13  081  29| 

Each  man  consumes  in  one  day  thirty  ounces  carbo- 
nates and  four  and  one  fourth  ounces  nitrates. 


114 


STATE  PKISON  RATIONS. 


By  comparing  the  above  bill  of  fare  with  the  stan- 
dard already  given,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  muscle- 
making  elements  are  three  fourths  of  an  ounce  below 
the  standard,  while  the  carbonates  are  at  least  out 
third  too  high.  It  should  be  considered  that  living  m 
a moderate  and  uniform  temperature,  and  using  only 
moderate  muscular  exercise,  neither  nitrates  nor  car- 
bonates need  be  above  the  average,  — probably  not 
more  than  twenty  ounces  of  carbonates  are  consumed : 
all  the  remainder  is  cast  off  as  waste ; and  not  being 
the  natural  waste,  tends  to  derange  the  stomach  and 
bowels,  and  clog  and  render  dormant  the  whole  sys- 
tem. The  prisoners  may  be  fat,  and  may  look  healthy, 
and  indeed  may  be,  and  should  be,  with  their  regular 
habits,  healthy,  and  the  bill  of  mortality  be  much  below 
the  average ; but  they  cannot  have  much  muscular  or 
mental  energy. 

By  changing  the  first  two  articles  on  the  bill,  a 
saving  of  more  than  one  hundred  dollars  would  be 
made  in  a week,  and  a bill  be  made  giving  them  more 
agreeable  food,  and  giving  them  more  of  the  nitrates 
and  phosphates,  and  therefore  more  energy  of  mind  and 
muscle.  Half  the  amount  of  unbolted  wheat  flour, 
made  from  good  wheat,  would  give  more  than  the  same 
amount  of  nitrates,  with  about  one  poimd  less  of  car- 
bonates, and  the  bread  would  be  equally  satisfactory ; 
And  then  half  the  amount  of  Southern  corn  (thirty 
bushels)  meal,  made  from  the  variety  of  corn  repre- 
sented by  Fig.  3,  would  give  more  nitrates  and  more 
phosphates  than  is  obtained  from  sixty  bushels  of 
Northern  corn,  and  the  bread  would  be  lighter  and 


ARMY  RATIONS. 


115 


better,  — which  would  also  reduce  the  amount  of  car- 
bonates perhaps  one  pound  more.  And  the  bill  might 
be  still  further  improved  by  substituting  for  the  four 
and  one  half  bushels  of  rice  as  many  bushels  of  peas, 
which  would  add  an  ounce  to  the  nitrates  and  subtract 
another  pound  from  the  carbonates,  as  may  be  seen  by 
the  analysis. 


The  Bill  of  Fare  of  Chinese  Passengers  from  China 
to  California. 

, Carbonates.  Nitrates. 


Rice, 

Beef  or  fish. 
Salted  vegetables. 
Tea,  .... 
Water,  . 


lbs.  17  oz. 

^ lb.  11  oz. 

I'lb.  1 oz. 

i oz. 

3 qts.  

19|-  oz. 


11  oz. 

I oz. 

0 oz.  87  gr. 


2 oz.  87  gr. 


Having  a full  supply  of  carbonates,  and  only  half  the 
amount  of  nitrates  necessary  for  active  life,  probably 
they  sleep  most  of  the  time. 


American  Army  Rations. 

Carbonates.  Nitrates. 

Pork  or  bacon,  . 1 lb.  if  all  fat,  12  oz.  0 oz. 

Fresh  or  salt  beef,  1^  lb.  average  fatness,  7 oz.  2 oz. 

Bread  or  flour,  . 1 lb.  8 oz.  or  1 lb.  6 oz.  2 oz. 

Hard  bread,  . . 12  oz.  11  oz.  1 oz. 

Corn  bread,  . . 4 oz.  1 oz.  \oz, 

8 qts.  of  beans  in  one  hundred  rations ; or,  in  lieu, 

10  lbs.  rice  twice  a week ; or,  in  lieu, 

150  oz.  dried  potatoes  and  100  oz.  dried  vegetables : 

I lb.  tea,  15  lbs.  sugar. 


116 


AMERICAN  DIETETICS. 


These  rations  are  very  unscientifically  made  up.  If 
I understand  the  bill,  a man  may  have  three  fourths  of 
a pound  of  fat  pork  and  twelve  ounces  of  hard  bread 
on  the  same  day,  and  nothing  else,  and  get  twenty- 
three  ounces  of  carbonates  and  only  one  ounce  of 
nitrates ; or  he  may  have  one  pound  and  one  fourth 
of  fresh  beef  and  one  pound  and  one  half  of  flour 
bread,  and  get  twenty-nine  ounces  of  carbonates  and 
four  ounces  of  nitrates  ; or  he  may  have  the  same  quan- 
tity of  fat  pork,  which  contains  no  nitrates,  and  bacon, 
which,  if  of  average  fatness,  would  give  a good  share 
of  nitrates.  It  is  evident  that  in  any  combination  the 
rations  give  too  large  a proportion  of  carbonates  to 
beget  activity  and  energy,  and  a large  amount  of  flour 
or  hard  bread  must  be  wasted.  A great  improvement 
would  be  made  by  leaving  out  three  fourths  of  the 
flour  and  all  of  the  rice,  and  giving  instead  Southern 
corn  bread  or  hominy  and  beans  and  peas.  This 
would  give  much  more  muscle  powe#,  and  would  save 
a large  amount  of  expense. 

The  great  dietetic  fault  of  the  nation  lies  in  eating 
too  much  carbonaceous  food,  especially  with  that  part 
of  the  people  who  have  followed  old  English  habits. 
Probably  the  Massachusetts  state  prisoners  live  more 
nearly  in  accordance  with  physiological  laws  than  any 
five  hundred  men  outside ; but  we  see  that  they  waste 
one  third  of  their  food  in  superfluous  carbonates. 

By  all  the  bills  of  fare  for  soldiers  and  prisoners, 
and  all  other  tables  by  which  it  could  be  ascertained 
how-mu:h  of  muscle-making  nutriment  is  required 


ELEMENTS  OF  FOOD. 


117 


under  different  circumstances,  it  is  seen  that  men  in 
sedentary  life,  in  this  country  or  Europe,  are  not  con- 
tent with  less  than  four  ounces  of  the  nitrogenous  ele- 
ments of  food,  and,  in  considerable  degree  of  activity, 
they  demand,  and  will  have,  five  ounces  ; and  in  the 
same  way  it  is  ascertained  that  from  four  to  five  times 
as  much  of  the  carbonates  are  required  as  of  the 
nitrates.  If  food  is  set  before  us  containing  these 
proportions  of  elements,  we  shall  eat  only  just  enough 
to  furnish  the  system  with  the  elements  required ; but 
if  we  have  before  us  food  containing  ten  times  as  much 
of  the  carbonates  as  of  the  nitrates,  we  should  then  eat 
twice  as  much  of  the  carbonates  as  are  required,  in 
order  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  the  appetite  for  the 
necessary  supply  of  nitrates.  We  will  demonstrate 
this  proposition. 

To  get  muscle-making  food  in  right  proportions,  take 
natural  food  — 

■ 

Carbonates. 

1 lb.  milk,  . . . 0 oz.  245  gr. 

1 lb.  beef,  roasted,  . 4 oz.  340  gr. 

1 lb.  potatoes,  . ^ . 3 oz. 

1 lb.  unbolted  bread,  . 10  oz.  165  gr. 

1 lb.  apples,  ...  3 oz. 


Nitrates. 

0 oz.  350  gr. 

1 oz.  122  gr. 

145  gr. 

2 oz.  110  gr. 

145  gr.' 


21  oz.  313  gr.  4 oz.  335  gr. 
To  get  muscle-making  food  in  unnatural  proportions, 


118 


PROPORTION  OF  ELEMENTS. 


take  food  in  common  use,  some  of  which  is  in  a natural 
state,  others  not : — 


Carbonates. 

Nitrates. 

1 lb.  roasted  beef. 

4 oz.  340  gr. 

1 OZ.  122  gr. 

1 lb.  milk. 

245  gr. 

350  gr. 

2 lbs.  superfine  bread. 

22  oz. 

370  gr. 

J lb.  butter. 

4 oz. 

0 gr. 

J lb.  sugar, 

4 oz. 

Ogr. 

1 lb.  potatoes. 

3 oz. 

145  gr. 

1 lb.  apples,  . 

3 oz. 

145  gr. 

41  oz.  143  gr. 

3 oz.  258  gr. 

In  this  bill  one  half  the  carbonates  must  be  wasted. 


Of  the  first  bill,  you  may  take  of  either  of  the 
articles  as  much  as  you  please  without  varying  the 
proportions  of  carbonates  and  nitrates,  and  conse- 
quently are  in  no  danger  of  wasting  food  or  embar- 
rassing the  system  by  eating  too  much,  the  appetite 
being  satisfied  when  the  requisite  amount  of  nitrates 
is  supplied ; or  you  may  vary  the  amount  of  different 
articles,  taking  more  of  one  and  less  of  the  other,  with- 
out varying  the  proportions  of  the  nitrates,  and  there- 
fore still  eat  all  the  appetite  demands.  For  example, 
suppose,  instead  of  a pint  of  milk  and  a pound  of 
bread  in  a day,  you  take  double  the  amount  of  milk 
and  one  and  one  half  pounds  of  bread,  you  would  then 
get  four  ounces  and  four  hundred  and  twenty-eight 
grains  of  nitrates,  — almost  the  requisite  amount. 


ERROES  OF  DIET. 


119 


from  bread  and  milk  alone ; indeed,  for  a warm  day, 
at  rest,  the  amount  of  nitrates  and  carbonates  would 
both  be  too  large ; or,  with  one  half  or  one  fourth  of 
the  beef,  you  would  take  more  of  the  other  articles  in 
proportion,  and  could  thus  safely  trust  your  appetite 
to  the  full  extent  of  its  demands  without  harm. 

But  with  the  last  bill  of  fare,  you  must  take  double 
the  quantity  to  get  the  requisite  amount  of  muscle- 
making and  brain-feeding  nutriment,  and  consequently 
one  half  of  all  the  food  taken  would  be  lost.  All  the 
sugar  and  butter,  and  more  than  half  of  the  flour,  would 
be  thrown  from  the  system  as  waste,  and  not  only  lost, 
but  by  giving  extra  and  unnatural  work  for  the  excre- 
tories,  embarrass  their  functions  and  render  them  liable 
to  disease ; while  the  presence  of  these  heating  articles 
renders  every  organ  more  liable  to  inflammation  and 
disease,  and  the  efforts  of  the  stomach  and  bowels  to 
dispose  of  these  offensive  materials,  together  with  the 
fermentation  of  these  undigested  elements,  would  cause 
flatulence,  acidity,  dyspepsia,  and  the  thousand  and  one 
pains,  inflammations,  liver  and  bowel  complaints,  which 
are  liable  to  attack  us,  especially  in  warm  weather, 
when  the  system  is  not  as  well  able  to  resist  these 
influences. 

When  we  consider  how  many  families,  especially 
among  the  poor,  live  very  nearly  on  the  same  kind  of 
food  summer  and  winter,  eating  in  warm  weather 
butter,  fat  pork,  superfine  flour,  lard,  &c.,  is  it  strange 
that  in  the  height  of  the  warm  season  we  have  bowel 
and  liver  complaints,  gastric  and  typhoid  fevers,  dysen- 


120 


ANALYSIS  OF  FOOD. 


teries,  dyspepsias,  &c.?  I think  that,  considering 
the  articles  wasted  are  among  the  most  expensive, 
I am  sustained  in  the  assertion  that  more  than  one  half 
of  the  expense  of  food  in  Boston,  to  say  nothing  of  all 
the  diseases,  would  be  saved  by  adapting  our  food  to 
the  wants  of  the  system,  and  that  we  should  enjoy  life, 
and  especially  the  pleasures  of  eating,  as  we  never  can 
while  living  in  disregard  of  Nature’s  laws. 


Analysis  of  Articles  of  Food  in  a Dry  State. 


m 

03 

CQ 

o> 

Articles. 

Nitrates 

a 

o 

t 

o 

1 

Ck 

m 

O 

s 

Waste. 

Wheat, . . . 

16.9 

77.2 

1.9 

4.0 

Barley, . . . 

14.9 

60.6 

4.9 

19.6 

Oats,  . . . 

19.6 

58.8 

8.5 

18.1 

Northern  corn, 

14.0 

78.9 

1.2 

5.9 

Southern  corn. 

39.5 

46.5 

4.7 

9.3 

' Wheat  is  the  best  grain 
for  bread,  in  unbolted 
meal.  In  fine  flour,  only 
useful  when  the  stomach 
and  bowels  are  in  an  irri- 
table state,  as  in  diar- 
rhoea, cholera  morbus, 
,&c. 

' Barley  is  excellent  for 
students,  as  it  abounds 
< in  food  for  the  brain,  and 
in  waste  to  keep  the  bow- 
^els  active. 

r Oats  are  good  for  ao- 
j tive  men,  either  with 
Lmuscle  or  brain. 

' Northern  corn  is  fat- 
tening, containing  as  it 
- does  more  than  five  times 
as  much  oil  as  is  found 
Jn  wheat. 

f Hominy  from  south- 
ern corn  is  excellent 
food  in  warm  weather, 
abounding  in  food  for 
muscle  and  brain,  and 
.having  few  carbonates. 


ANALYSIS  OF  FOOD 


121 


Articles. 

Nitrates. 

Carbonates. 

Phosphates. 

Waste. 

1 

Tuscarora  corn, 

6.0 

90.7 

1.3 

2.0 

Buckwheat,  . 

10.0 

61.8 

2.1 

26.1 

Rye,  . . . 

15.9 

64.2 

2.0 

17.9 

Beans,  . . . 

28.2 

46.9 

4.1 

20.8 

Peas,  . . . 

27.2 

47.7 

2.9 

22.2 

Lentils, . . . 

30.2 

45.4' 

1.7 

22.7 

Rice,  . . . 

6.6 

90.2 

0.6 

3.7 

Cheese,*  about 

48.6 

i 

1 

44.1 

7.4 

f Tuscarora  corn  is  used 
mostly  for  making 
'-starch. 

f Buckwheat  is  useful 
I only  for  a ride  in  the 
j cold,  having  few  nitrates 
Ifor  the  muscles. 

z'  Rye  is  excellent  for 
persons  inclined  to  con- 
stipation, and  with  corn 
meal  makes  good  bread, 
nourishing  and  digesti- 
.ble. 


' Beans  and  peas,  con- 
taining double  the 
amount  of  nitrates  and 
phosphates,  and  treble 
of  waste  necessary,  are 
appropriately  used  with 
pork  or  butter  to  supply 
the  carbonates,  &c.;  and 
being  hard  of  digestion, 
are  excellent  for  active 
people  whose  stomachs 
are  strong.  If  eaten  too 
heartily  the  waste  gives 
pain. 

' Lentils  and  rice  grow 
together  naturally,  and 
are  evidently  intended  to 
supply  each  other’s  defi- 
ciencies. Neither,  alone, 
- would  be  capable  of  sus- 
taining life,  but  for  op- 
posite reasons;  the  one 
containing  double,  the 
other  one  half  the  ni- 
^trates  necessary. 


* Cheese  has  more  than  twice  the  amount  of  nutriment  of  any  other  known 
substance.  It  must  therefore  be  used  in  small  quantities,  and  with  such  articles 
as  fruits,  or  fine  flour,  which  contain  little  nitrogen.  It  is  hard  of  digestion, 
but  almost  any  one  who  is  in  good  health  can  teach  the  stomach  to  digest  it  by 
taking  very  little  at  a time  early  in  the  day. 


122 


ANALYSIS  OF  FOOD, 


OQ 

1- 

OQ 

1 

Articles. 

1 

c3 

ti 

§ 

-e 

■a 

QQ 

O 

i 

c3 

O 

s 

Sweet  potatoes. 

4.6 

67.1 

8.9 

19.4 

Parsnips,  . . 

10.2 

70.4 

4.8 

14.6 

Carrots,  . . 

6.3 

69.7 

5.8 

18.2 

Potatoes,  . . 

5.6 

62.7 

3.5 

28.2 

Turnips,  . . 

12.5 

41.7 

5.2 

40.6 

Beef,  • . . 

54.8 

40.0 

5.7 

Lamb,  . . . 

54.3 

39.6 

6.1 

- 

Mutton,  . . 

56.8 

37.8 

5.4 

- 

Veal,  . . . 

51.6 

41.7 

6.7 

- 

P ork,  • • • 

49.1 

44.9 

6.0 

- 

' These  and  all  other 
green  vegetables  and 
fruits,  contain  all  the 
requisite  elements  of 
nourishment,  but  with 
such  an  amount  of  wa- 
ter and  waste,  that  the 
capacity  of  the  human 
stomach  is  insufficient  to 
contain  the  necessary 
supply,  while  animal 
food  is  too  concentrated 
to  give  the  necessary  dis- 
tention and  waste;  but 
eaten  together  they  each 
supply  the  deficiency  of 
the  other  class  of  food. 


Fat  being  the  source  of 
supply  of  carbon  in  animal 
food,  and  supplying  as  it 
does  two  and  one  half  times 
as  much  heat  as  sugar  or 
starch,  the  true  amount  is 
obtained  in  this  table  by 
multiplying  the  figures  of 
the  next  table  by  2^.* 
While  therefore  beef  is  re- 
ported to  have  twice  as 
much  carbon  as  nitrogen, 
it  actually  has  five  times  as 
much.  For  this  reason 
animal  food  is  too  concen- 
trated, and  having  also  toe 
much  phosphorus,  requires 
vegetable  food  to  dilute  and 
. modify  it. 


ANALYSIS  or  FOOD, 


123 


Analysis  of  Articles  of  Food  in  their  Natural  State. 


Articles. 

Nitrates. 

Carbonates. 

Pbosph. 

Water. 

Waste. 

Wheat, 

14.6 

66.4 

1.6 

14.0 

3.4 

Barley, 

12.8 

52.1 

4.2 

14.0 

16.9 

Oats, 

17.0 

50.8 

3.0 

13.6 

15.6 

Northern  corn,  or  maize. 

12.3 

67.5 

1.1 

14.0 

5.1 

Southern  corn,  .... 

34.6 

39.2 

4.1 

14.0 

8.1 

Buckwheat, 

8.6 

53.0 

1.8 

14.2 

22.4 

Rye, 

6.5 

75.2 

0.5 

13.5 

4.3 

Beans, 

24.0 

40.0 

3.5 

14.8 

17.7 

Peas, 

23.4 

41.0 

2.5 

14.1 

19.0 

Lentils,  ...... 

26.0 

39.0 

1.5 

14.0 

19.5 

Rice, 

5.1 

82.0 

0.5 

9.0 

3.4 

Potatoes, 

1.4 

15.8 

0.9 

74.8 

7.1 

Sweet  potatoes,  . . . 

1.5 

21.8 

2.9 

67.5 

6.3 

Parsnips, 

2.1 

14.5 

1.0 

79.4 

3.0 

Turnips, 

1.2 

4.0 

0.5 

90.4 

3.9 

Carrots, 

1.1 

12.2 

1.0 

82.5 

3.2 

Cabbage, 

1.2 

6.2 

0.8 

91.3 

0.5 

Cauliflower, 

3.6 

4.6 

1.0 

90.0 

0.8 

Cucumbers, 

0.1 

1.7 

0.5 

97.1 

0.6 

Milk  of  cow,  .... 

5.0 

8.0 

1.0 

86.0 

_ 

Human  milk,  .... 

3.0 

7.0 

0.5 

89.5 

_ 

Veal, 

17.7 

14.3 

2.3 

65.7 

- 

Beef, 

19.0 

14.0 

2.0 

65.0 

_ 

Lamb, 

19.6 

14.3 

2.2 

63.9 

_ 

Mutton, 

21.0 

14.0 

2.0 

63.0 

- 

Pork, 

17.5 

16.0 

2.2 

64.3 

_ 

Chicken, 

21.6 

1.9 

2.8 

73.7 

Codfish, 

16.5 

1.0 

2.5 

80.0 

Haddock, 

14.0 

0.6 

2.6 

82.8 

_ 

Sole, 

17.0 

0.8  . 

2.5 

79.7 

_ 

Plaice, 

14.0 

very  little 

5 or  6 

80.0 

- 

Flounder, 

15.0 

some  fat 

3 or  4 

78.0 

— 

Turbot, 

14.0 

very  little 

5 or  6 

79.0 

- 

Trout, 

16.9 

0.8 

4.3 

78.0 

- 

Whiting, 

15.0 

very  little 

5 or  6 

78.0 

- 

Smelt, 

17.0 

very  little 

5 or  6 

75,0 

- 

Salmon, 

20.0 

some  fat 

6 or  7 

74.0 

- 

Eels, 

17.0 

some  fat 

3 or  4 

75.0 

_ 

Herring, 

18.0 

some  fat 

4 or  5 

75.0 

Halibut, 

lao 

some  fat 

3 or  4 

74.0 

- 

FISH  AS  FOOD, 


Articles. 

Nitrates. 

Carbonates 

Phosph. 

Water. 

Waste. 

Oyster, 

12.6 

- 

0.2 

87.2 

Clam, 

12.0 

very  little 

2 or  3 

— 

- 

Lobster, 

14.0 

very  little 

5 or  6 

79.0 

- 

Eggs,  white  of, . . . . 

13.0 

- 

2.8 

84.2 

Eggs,  yolk  of,  .... 

16.9 

29.8 

2.0 

51.3 

- 

Butter, 

- 

100.0 

- 

- 

_ 

Artichoke, 

1.9 

19.0 

1.8 

76.6 

0.7 

Asparagus, 

0.6 

5.4 

0.4 

93.6 

- 

Bacon, 

8.4 

62.5 

0.5 

28.6 

— 

Carp, 

18.Q 

0.8 

2.9 

78.3 

- 

Cheese, 

30.8 

28.0 

4.7 

36.5 

- 

Cherries, 

0.6 

21.0 

1.0 

76.3 

1.1 

Chocolate, 

8.8 

88.0 

1.8 

_ 

1.4 

Cream, 

3.5 

4.5 

- 

92.0 

- 

Currants, 

0.9 

6.8 

0.3 

81.3 

10.7 

Dates,  fresh 

- 

73.7 

- 

24.0 

2.3 

Figs 

5.0 

57.9 

3.4 

18.7 

15.0 

Green  gages 

0.3 

26.8 

- 

71.1 

1.8 

Ham, 

35.0 

32.0 

4.4 

28.6 

- 

Horseradish 

0.1 

4.7 

1.0 

78.2 

16.0 

Kidney,  

21.2 

0.9 

1.4 

76.5 

- 

Lard, 

- 

100.0 

- 

- 

- 

Liver, 

26.3 

3.9 

1.2 

68.6 

- 

Onions, 

0.5 

5.2 

0.5 

93.8 

_ 

Pearl  barley,  .... 

4.7 

78.0 

0.2 

9.5 

7.6 

Pears, 

0.1 

9.6 

- 

86.4 

3.9 

Pigeon,  

23.0 

1.9 

2.7 

72.4 

- 

Prunes, 

3.9 

78.6 

4.5 

13.0 

- 

Radishes, 

1.2 

7.4 

1.0 

89.1 

1.3 

Suet, 

- 

100.0 

- 

- 

- 

Venison, 

20.4 

8.0 

2.8 

68.8 

- 

Vermicelli, 

47.5 

38.0 

1.7 

12.8 

- 

Whey, 

- 

4.6 

0.7 

94.7 

- 

Fishes. 

Of  the  fishes,  there  has  not  yet  been  made  analyses 
sufficiently  accurate  to  make  a reliable  table.  The  ni- 
trates of  common  white  fish,  like  cod  and  haddock,  are 
in  about  the  same  proportion  as  in  beef  and  mutton,  and 
of  the  phosphates  rather  more ; while  the  more  active 
fish,  as  the  trout,  pickerel,  shad,  &c.,  contain  more 
nitrates  and  phosphates  in  proportion  to  their  activity. 

The  amount  of  carbonates  depends  on  the  amount 


FISH  AS  FOOD. 


125 


of  fat;  the  gelatinous  principle,  although  containing 
carbon,  is  not  digestible,  and  therefore  furnishes  no 
carbonaceous  food ; the  nitrates  consist  mostly  of  al- 
bumen, which  is  easily  digested,  but  furnish  less  mus- 
cular power  than  fibrine  of  red-blooded  meats. 

Fishes,  therefore,  afford  better  food  for  students  and 
sedentary  men  than  for  those  who  work  hard. 

Except  the  fatty  fishes,  most  of  them  require  to  be 
cooked  with  lard,  fat  pork,  or  butter,  and  to  be  eaten 
with  potatoes,  or  some  farinaceous  food,  to  furnish  the 
requisite  carbonates.  There  is  a class  of  fishes,  how- 
ever, like  the  salmon,  halibut,  &c.,  which  are  quite  well 
supplied  with  the  carbonates  ; they  are  easily  digested, 
or  not,  as  they  contain  more  or  less  fat ; and  the  cod, 
haddock,  trout,  shad,  &c.,  are  excellent  food,  if  rel- 
ished, for  invalids,  convalescents,  &c.  ; while  the  fatty 
fishes  and  the  preserved  fishes  are  more  suitable  for 
those  who  take  active  exercise  in  the  open  air,  and 
have  better  powers  of  digestion. 

Peeseeved  Fish. — Various  methods  are  devised 
for  keeping  fish,  as  pickling  in  salt,  drying,  smoking, 
&c.  Pickled  fish  are  objectionable,  having  lost  most 
of  their  nutritive  element  and  their  soluble  phosphates. 
The  brine  in  which  fish  as  well  as  beef  has  been  pic- 
kled has  been  analyzed,  and  found  to  contain  most  of 
the  albumen  and  the  phosphates  which  are  adapted  to 
give  vigor  to  the  brain  and  nervous  system  ; but  not  the 
fibrine,  which  makes  muscles,  or  the  phosphates,  which 
make  bones.  Fish,  therefore,  which  has  been  in  brine, 
is  suitable  for  laboring  men,  but  not  for  sedentary  per- 
sons, or  those  who  use  their  brains. 


126 


LIFE  AND  POWEE  TO  MOVE. 


‘‘  Every  moving  thing  that  liveth  shall  be  meat  for  you.” 

This  promise  was  made  to  man  on  the  basis  of  im- 
mutable law.  In  every  living  thing,  life  and  power  to 
move  is  found  to  depend  on  the  same  elements,  — 
phosphorus  and  nitrogen,  — and  of  course  every  living 
thing  is  capable  of  imparting  life  and  power  to  move  to 
every  other  living  thing  which  has  digestive  powers  by 
which  to  appropriate  these  elements ; and,  as  has  before 
been  intimated,  this  power  of  imparting  life  and  mus- 
cular power  in  any  article  of  food  is  in  proportion  to 
the  phosphorus  and  nitrogen  contained  in  it.  On  the 
other  hand,  "every  moving  thing  that  liveth”  contains 
these  elements  in  proportion  to  its  own  vital  activity 
and  muscular  power,  so  that  we  need  not  analyze  everj 
living  thing  in  order  to  know  its  dietetic  value.  This 
principle  is  not  only  established  by  chemical  analysis, 
but  by  observation  on  the  habits  of  animals,  and  the 
experience  of  every  man.  (See  page  84,  85.) 

Who  has  not  experienced  the  difference  of  power 
* and  activity  of  mind  and  muscle  produced  by  different 
kinds  of  food?  For  example,  by  a dinner  from  the 
muscles  of  an  ox,  that  have  been  developed  by  hard 
work,  and  one  from  the  muscles  of  a dormant  hog? 
Indeed,  the  difference  is  perceptible  between  the  used 
and  the  unused  muscles  of  the  same  creature. 

The  breast  of  the  chicken  or  turkey,  which  is  made 
up  of  the  unused  muscles  of  the  wings,  is  white,  dry, 
and  comparatively  insipid,  containing  but  little  phos- 
phatic  or  nitrogenous  food,  while  the  muscles  which 


IS  PORK  WHOLESOME? 


127 


move  the  legs  are  dark,  juicy,  rich  in  flavor,  and  con 
tain  a very  much  larger  proportion  of  the  life-giving 
and  muscle-making  elements.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
breasts  of  the  birds  which  live  on  the  wing  are  rich  in 
these  elements,  and  their  thighs  and  side  bones  are 
covered  with  poor,  dry  meat.  This  principle  holds 
good  in  relation  to  all  animal  food,  from  quadrupeds, 
fishes,  fowls,  and  reptiles ; and  it  may  be  useful  in 
assisting  to  determine  the  comparative  value  of  differ- 
ent articles,  and  in  adapting  them  to  our  circum- 
stances, 

A full  understanding  of  this  principle  in  the  com- 
munity will  relieve  the  doctor  from  that  inevitable 
question,  which  meets  him  wherever  he  goes.  In  the 
sick  room  or  at  the  dinner  table,  in  the  horse  cars  or 
at  the  social  circle,  wherever  he  is,  somebody  bores 
him  with  the  question.  Doctor,  is  pork  wholesome? 
Are  potatoes  wholesome?  &c.,  &c.  ; questions  which 
can  be  answered  yes  or  no,  or  both  yes  and  no,  with 
equal  propriety,  unless,  with  the  answer,  he  goes  into 
a disquisition  on  the  peculiar  properties  of  each,  and 
the  circumstances  which  make  them  wholesome  at  one 
time  and  hurtful  at  another. 

A rattlesnake,  all  but  the  head,  would  make  a deli- 
cious and  wholesome  meal  to  a man  who  was  starvins:, 
and  could  get  nothing  else,  while  the  most  delicate 
woodcock  would  be  poison  to  a man  prostrated  with 
typhoid  fever.  That  abstract  question,  then,  so  often 
asked  (is  this  or  that  kind  of  food  wholesome) , is  only 
consummate  nonsense. 


128 


THE  GKEEN  TURTLE. 


Every  moving  thing  that  liveth,”  and  every  herb 
bearing  seed  which  is  upon  the  face  of  the  earth,”  is 
wholesome  under  some  circumstances,  and  unwhole- 
some under  other  circumstances. 


Of  Reptiles. 

Crustacea  and  mollusks,  and  indeed  " every  creeping 
thing,”  either  from  necessity  or  choice,  in  some  part  of 
the  world,  is  eaten  by  man ; but  in  this  country  and  in 
England  only  a few  species  are  used. 

Turtle. 

Of  reptiles,  the  turtle  only  is  eaten,  unless  under 
this  title  we  class  eels.  The  green  turtle  is  brought 
from  the  West  India  Islands  and  the  Bahamas.  It  as 
seldom  crawls  on  the  land  as  the  eel,  and,  indeed,  has 
no  feet,  having  in  the  place  of  them  little  paddles, 
with  which  it  swims  with  great  swiftness ; and  being 
very  muscular  and  active,  its  flesh  is  very  nitrogenous 
and  phosphatic,  and  not  being  fat,  is  an  excellent 
aiticle  of  food  taken  fresh  from  its  native  element.  I 
have  eaten  it  cooked  in  four  different  ways — fried, 
broiled,  fricasseed,  and  in  soup,  and  found  it  a pala- 
table and  highly  nutritious  article  of  food.  In  this 
country  it  is  seldom  used  except  in  soup.  It  is  very 
different  in  its  taste,  and  far  inferior  in  its  nutritive 
qualities,  after  being  kept  out  of  water,  on  its  back, 
in  the  cruel  manner  in  which  it  is  kept  on  the 
passage.  Fresh  from  the  water,  some  parts  of  the 


LOBSTEK, 


turtle  resemble  the  flesh  of  the  chicken,  other  parts 
have  a fishy  taste,  other  parts  are  albuminous,  like 
the  white  of  an  egg,  and  all  parts  seem  to  be  nutri- 
tious. 

Crustacea* 

Many  of  the  species  of  this  class  are  esculent,  and 
some  are  excellent  food.  In  this  country  and  England 
are  used  the  common  lobster,  the  thorny  lobster  or 
sea  crawfish,  the  river  crawfish,  the  large  edible  black- 
clawed  crab,  the  common  or  small  edible  crab,  the 
prawn,  and  the  shrimp.  They  have  all  the  same 

characteristics.  Being  active  in  their  habits,  and  having 
powerful  muscles,  their  flesh  abounds  in  nitrates  and 
phosphates,  but  is  rather  hard  and  compact,  and  there- 
fore requires  good  powers  of  digestion,  and  they  are 
adapted  for  food  to  active,  healthy  persons  to  assist 
in  the  labor  of  the  day,  but  they  are  most  miserably 
misapplied  to  evening  entertainments  in  the  form  of 
salads.  The  lobster  is  the  most  valuable  of  this  class 
of  food,  and  is  much  the  most  extensively  used. 

Molluscous  Animals. 

In  this  country  the  only  species  of  this  class  used  as 
food  to  any  extent  are  clams  and  oysters ; and  in  Eng- 
land, besides  the  oyster,  the  mussel,  the  cockle,  the 
scallop,  the  periwinkle,  the  limpet,  and  the  whelk. 
But  the  oyster  holds  the  highest  rank  in  this  class  of 
food,  and  is  used  among  all  classes,  forming  a branch 
of  trade  very  extensive  and  important. 

9 


130 


OYSTEES. 


This  class  of  animals  differs  from  the  Crustacea  in 
this,  that  while  the  Crustacea  have  powerful  and 
active  muscles,  the  mollusks  have  almost  no  muscles 
at  all,  having  no  motion  except  the  opening  and  shut- 
ting of  the  bivalves,  and  a slight  contractile  power  by 
which  they  imbibe  their  food.  Of  course  they  have 
not  as  food  the  muscle-making  elements  of  the  Crus- 
tacea or  other  active  fish ; and  although  their  chemi- 
cal composition  indicates  phosphatic  salts,  they  are 
mostly  salts  of  lime,  which  go  to  form  the  shell  and 
to  make  bone  rather  than  afford  food  for  the  brain  and 
nervous  system.  Oysters,  therefore,  are  very  unsatis- 
factory food  for  laboring  men,  but  will  do  for  the  sed- 
entary, and  for  a supper  to  sleep  on.  They  contain 
but  twelve  and  one  half  per  cent,  of  solid  matter, 
including  fibrin,  albumen,  gelatine,  mucus,  and  osma- 
zome,  and  much  of  that  is  gelatine,  which  affords  no 
nourishment,  while  butchers’  meat  contains  on  an  aver- 
age twenty-five  per  cent. , and  the  poorest  fishes  contain 
fourteen  per  cent,  of  pure  nitrates. 

The  nitrates  in  oysters  are  in  the  form  of  albumen, 
like  the  white  of  the  egg ; they  are  therefore  more 
easily  digested  in  a raw  state  than  when  cooked,  but 
stewed  are  not  indigestible,  and  for  feeble  persons  and 
convalescents  are  better  stewed  than  raw,  as  in  this 
state  they  are  relished  with  less  stimulating  condi- 
ments. 

To  oysters,  as  to  all  shell-fish,  and  indeed  to  all 
kinds  of  fish,  there  is  the  serious  objection  that 
great  care  must  be  used  to  avoid  eating  them  after  the 


POISON  FISH. 


131 


slightest  decomposition  has  commenced,  otherwise  they 
may  occasion  serious  disturbance  of  the  digestive  or- 
gans, and  even  in  some  cases  terrible  and  fatal  diseases. 
There  is  also  occasionally  a very  serious  poisonous 
effect  from  fish  perfectly  fresh  and  apparently  healthy, 
in  which  chemistry  can  detect  nothing  deleterious.  1 
have  known  but  few  cases  of  the  kind  in  Boston,  and 
they  were  occasioned  by  eating  mackerel ; but  in  the 
Bahama  Islands  I saw  a man,  who,  fifteen  years  before, 
ate  a meal  from  a fish  called  there  blue  fish,  though 
very  different  from  the  blue  fish  of  New  England  coast, 
which  in  two  hours  brought  on  excruciating  internal 
distress,  with  painful  eruption  of  the  skin,  and  these 
turns  of  awful  distress  had  occurred  occasionally  ever 
afterwards,  entirely  unfitting  him  for  any  kind  of 
business,  and  making  his  life  a burden. 

Not  one  in  a hundred  of  these  fishes  is  poisonous, 
but  no  man  has  sagacity  sufficient  to  detect  the  good 
from  the  bad ; and  therefore  the  inhabitants  eat  none 
of  these  fishes  till  they  submit  them  to  a curious  test. 
They  place  a piece  of  fish  in  the  way  of  a species  of 
ant  which  is  common  there  : if  the  ant  eats  it,  they  eat 
it  with  impunity ; if  the  ant  rejects  it,  they  of  course 
do  not  eat  it ; — an  example  which  gives  force  to  the 
idea  of  Pope,  — 

“ Reason  raise  o’er  instinct  as  you  can ; 

In  this  ’tis  God  directs  — in  that  ’tis  man.” 


132 


FOUR  CLASSES  OF  FOOD. 


Classification  of  Food  in  common  use. 

1st  Class.  — That  in  which  the  proportion  of  heat- 
producing  elements  is  too  large  for  the  common  wants 
of  tlie  system,  and  which  alone  would  sustain  life  only 
for  a time,  shorter  or  longer  in  proportion  to  the  amount 
of  other  elements  which  they  contain.  Lard,  butter, 
sugar,  or  any  animal  fats  being  capable  of  sustaining 
life,  without  other  food,  only  from  twenty  to  thirty 
days  ; and  superfine  flour,  being  mostly  composed  of 
starch,  has  been  proved  by  experiment  on  animals  to 
be  capable  of  sustaining  life,  without  other  food,  only 
from  fifty  to  sixty  days.  These  are  the  Carbonates, 
described  in  another  chapter. 

2d  Class.  — That  in  which  the  muscle-making  ele- 
ments are  too  large  in  proportion  to  their  carbonates. 
Some  of  these  articles  would  be  capable  of  sustaining 
life  only  for  a limited  period  without  articles  of  the 
first  class  to  keep  up  the  steam.  These  are  the 

Nitrates,  described  before. 

3d  Class.  — That  in  which  the  proportion  of  ele- 
ments which  support  the  brain  and  nerves,  and  give 
vital  energy  both  of  mind  and  muscle,  is  too  large 
fi^r  the  common  duties  of  life.  These  are  the  Phos- 
phates. 

4th  Class.  — That  in  which  there  is  too  much  waste 
material  in  proportion  to  nutritive  principles,  and 
which,  therefore,  if  eaten  alone,  produces  diarrhoea 
and  debility,  but  which,  taken  with  other  more  nutri- 


PRINCIPAL  ARTICLES  IN  EACH  CLASS. 


'133 


tive  food,  subserves  the  important  purpose  of  giving 
distention,  and  keeping  the  bowels  in  action,  and  the 
system  free  and  cool,  by  preventing  a surplus  of  stim- 
ulating food. 

The  representative  articles  of  these  four  classes  are 


as  follows  : — 

1st  Class. 

2d  Class. 

3d  Class. 

4th  Class. 

Carbonates.  | 

Nitrates. 

Phosphates. 

Waste. 

Butter  and 

Lean  meats. 

Shell  fishes. 

Green  vege- 

lard. 

Cheese. 

Lean  meats. 

tables. 

Fat  of  all 

Peas  and 

Peas  and 

Fruits,  ber- 

meats. 

beans. 

beans. 

ries,  &c. 

Vegetable 

Lean  fishes, 

Active  fish- 

oils. 

&c. 

es,  birds, 

Fine  flour, 

■&c. 

&c. 

Under  ordinary  circumstances,  in  moderate  weather, 
with  moderate  exercise  of  muscle  and  brain,  the  proper 
proportions  of  carbonates,  nitrates,  and  phosphates 
seem  to  be  the  average  proportions  found  in  unbolted 
wheat  meal,  viz.  : Sixty-five  of  the  carbonates  to 

fifteen  of  the  nitrates,  and  two  of  the  phosphates 
to  seventeen  or  eighteen  of  water  and  waste,  — or 
something  more  than  four  times  as  much  of  the  car- 
bonates as  of  the  nitrates,  and  two  per  cent,  of  the 
phosphates,  the  amount  of  water  not  being  of  much 
consequence,  as  it  is  supplied  as  it  is  demanded,  and 
taken  as  drink  when  it  is  not  supplied  in  the  food. 


134 


FOOD  WHICH  PRODUCES  STUPIDITY. 


A consideration  of  this  classification  will  help  us  to 
understand  and  correct  many  important  errors  in  diet. 

Every  observing  person  has  noticed  that  after  a meal 
in  which  the  predominant  articles  were  chiefly  composed 
of  fat  meat,  fine  flour,  butter  or  sugar,  he  is  stupid,  ar 
sleepy,  and  indisposed  to  exercise  either  mind  or  mus- 
cle ; and  the  reason  is  plain  : as  very  little  food  for 
either  brain  or  muscle  is  found  in  either  of  the  articles 
named,  and  this  torpor  will  be  found  to  be  in  exact 
proportion  to  the  excess  of  these  carbonates  over  their 
proper  proportion.  And  this  is  the  inevitable  conse- 
quence of  separating  the  important  principles  which 
God  has  joined  together,  and  furnished  in  every  article 
of  appropriate  food,  in  the  right  proportions,  as  nour- 
ishment for  every  faculty. 

If  the  fat  meat  had  been  eaten  as  it  was  made,  mixed 
with  an  appropriate  amount  of  lean,  and  instead  of  the 
flour,  the  bread  had  been  made  of  meal  from  the  whole 
wheat  as  it  was  created,  and  milk  had  been  substituted 
for  the  butter,  and  the  sugar  taken  as  it  was  intended 
to  be  taken,  with  the  vegetables  and  delicious  fruits, 
mixed  with  such  other  elements  as  the  system  required, 
then  the  appetite  might  have  been  indulged  to  the  fullest 
extent,  and  no  organs  or  faculties  would  have  been  op- 
pressed and  overburdened  while  others  were  not  sup- 
plied, and  every  part  of  the  system  would  have  been 
prepared,  without  stupor  or  sleepiness,  to  perform  the 
duties  assigned  it. 

If  we  take  our  food  as  it  is  made,  with  the  elements 
aiixed  by  Infinite  Wisdom,  we  need  use  our  judgment 


PERVERTED  ARTICLES  OF  FOOD. 


135 


r>Tily  in  cooking  it  so  as  best  to  develop  its  flavor  and 
fit  it  for  digestion,  and  our  appetite  would  safely  direct 
us,  both  as  to  the  articles  to  be  eaten  and  the  amount 
required.  But  presuming  as  we  do  to  know  better 
than  our  Maker  how  to  mix  the  different  elements  of 
food,  we  have  spoiled  some  of  our  best  articles  of 
nourishment,  and  have  at  the  same  time  so  perverted 
our  appetites  and  tastes  that  they  are  no  guide,  at  least 
so  far  as  relates  to  the  use  of  the  articles  with  which  we 
have  thus  interfered. 

The  only  articles  of  diet  in  this  country  which  to  any 
extent  are  thus  perverted  are  wheat  and  milk,  and 
these  are  perverted  in  the  same  way,  by  taking  out  and 
rejecting  the  nitrates  and  phosphates,  and  using  the 
carbonates  only.  The  effects,  especially  in  our  cities, 
are  manifest  in  our  liability  to  inflammatory  diseases ; 
in  our  feebleness  and  weakness  of  . muscle,  for  want  of 
the  nitrates ; in  our  defective,  aching  teeth,  for  want  of 
lime,  &c. ; in  our  physical  and  mental  debility,  for 
want  of  the  phosphates ; and  in  our  ash-colored,  chlo- 
rotic girls,  for  want  of  the  iron,  — all  of  which  ele- 
ments, except  the  carbonates,  being  entirely  wanting  in 
butter,  and  almost  all  in  very  nice  white  flour.  See 
plate  of  wheat.  Figs.  2,  6,  and  7. 

i 


136 


FOOD  FOR  COLD  WEATHER. 


Practical  Application  of  tlie  Analysis  of  Food  to  the 
different  Conditions  in  Life. 

Food  for  Out--of~door  Worlc^  with  the  Thermometer 
below  Zero. 

Let  us  first  take  a case  requiring  the  most  concen- 
trated nourishment,  or,  in  common  parlance,  the  most 
hearty  food. 

A man  works  in  the  open  air  in  the  coldest  winter 
weather : what  articles  of  diet  will  best  sustain  him  ? 
Under  these  circumstances  he  must  exercise  his  mus- 
cles to  their  fullest  capacity  or  he  will  freeze,  and  he 
will  therefore  require  more  than  twice  as  much  muscle- 
making food  as  he  would  need  with  moderate  exer- 
cise : then  he  would  require  of  the  most  concentrated 
heat-producers  five  times  as  much  as  of  the  flesh- 
makers.  Fat  of  animals  is  the  most  concentrated 
article  of  carbonates,  and  yet  we  are  astonished  at 
the  amount  necessary  to  support  animal  heat  in  cold 
climates. 

It  is  said  that  an  Esquimaux  woman  will  eat  a gallon 
of  whale  oil  in  one  day,  or  ten  or  twelve  pounds  of 
tallow  candles,  besides  the  necessary  muscle-making 
food.  The  stomach  will  not,  therefore,  in  active  life  in 
the  cold,  contain  food  sufficient  to  sustain  life,  except 
in  its  most  concentrated  form.  For  a man,  therefore, 
chopping  wood  in  the  cold,  fat  and  lean  meats  are  the 
articles  mostly  to  be  depended  on,  fat  containing  two 
and  one  half  times  the  heating  power  of  the  vegetable 


FOOD  FOR  COLD  WEATHER. 


137 


carbonates,  sugar  and  starch,  while  the  muscle  of 
meat  contains,  of  course,  the  concentrated  elements  for 
working  power. 

Of  vegetable  food  adapted  to  accompany  pork  and 
beef,  beans,  peas,  and  northern  corn  bread  are  best,  as 
may  be  seen  by  reference  to  the  analytical  table,  beans 
and  peas  containing  more  of  the  nitrates  and  phosphates 
than  any  other  vegetable  food,  and  Indian  corn  contain- 
ing more  carbonates,  especially  more  oil,  than  other 
grains.  Cheese  is  also  a good  concentrated  article 
with  corn  bread.  These  articles  of  food  are  not  easily 
digested,  but  are  the  better  on  that  account,  the  stom- 
ach being  subject  to  the  same  law  as  other  organs  and 
faculties,- — '^the  more  work  to  do,  the  more  strength 
to  do  it.” 

Exposure  to  cold,  without  exercise,  requires  differ- 
ent and  more  digestible  articles.  Carbonates,  sucli  as 
sugar,  buckwheat  or  flour  cakes,  rice,  &c.,  and  even 
the  less  digestible  articles  which  cannot  be  eaten  in 
summer,  as  cheese,  beans  and  pork,  &c.,  may  be  eaten 
with  impunity  in  winter,  upon  the  principle  stated 
above,  much  more  food  being  required  in  winter 
than  in  summer,  proportionate  powers  of  digestion 
are  given  to  correspond.  And  hence  we  seldom  find 
trouble  from  dyspepsia  in  cold  weather,  especially  with 
those  who  exercise  in  the  open  air ; and  it  is  always 
best,  in  order  to  strengthen  the  stomach,  to  take  arti- 
cles of  food  that  will  tax  the  full  power  of  digestion, 
just  as  it  is  best  to  take  active  exercise  in  order  to 
strengthen  the  muscles.  One  who  lives  on  rice,  can 


138 


FOOD  FOR  WARM  WEATHER. 


digest  nothing  else ; but  one  who  can  eat  and  digest 
beans,  cheese,  &c.,  can  generally  digest  everything. 


What  Articles  of  Food  are  best  adapted  to  Warm 
Weather  ? 

If  it  be  true  that  in  cold  weather  we  need,  and  the 
appetite  demands,  concentrated  carbonaceous  food,  as 
has  been  explained  in  the  preceding  chapter,  it  is  also 
true,  as  might  be  expected,  and  as  we  all  know,  that 
the  appetite  demands  in  warm  weather  a very  different 
class  of  articles  of  food ; and  the  reason  is  obvious. 

Four  fifths  of  our  food  being  devoted  to  the  produc- 
tion of  heat,  we  need  four  times  as  much  in  cold 
weather  as  in  warm.  If,  therefore,  we  ate  the  same 
articles  in  summer  as  in  winter,  and  only  what  our 
nature  required,  the  stomach  and  bowels  would  collapse 
into  one  quarter  of  their  size,  and  could  not  properly 
carry  on  their  functions.  Nature;  therefore,  provides  for 
warm  climates  and  the  summers  of  cold,  food  in  which 
all  the  elements  are  greatly  diluted,  and  in  which  the 
proportions  of  carbonates  are  much  smaller  than  those 
provided  for  cold  weather.  This  you  will  see  in  the 
analysis  of  southern  and  northern  corn,  in  a very 
remarkable  degree  (Figs.  3 and  4).  While  the  propor- 
tion of  northern  corn  is  six  of  the  carbonates  to  one  of 
the  nitrates,  the  proportions  of  these  principles  in  south- 
ern corn  are  nearly  equal : it  would  therefore  require 
six  times  the  bulk  of  southern  corn  as  of  northern  to 
support  the  same  degree  of  heat ; and  this  disparity  is 


FOOD  FOR  WARM  WEATHER. 


139 


still  more  strikingly  seen  if  we  compare  northern  corn 
with  some  of  our  common  vegetables.  Corn  contains 
seventy-three  per  cent,  of  carbonates,  turnips  four  per 
cent.,  and  cucumbers  one  per  cent.  Consequently  it 
would  require  eighteen  pounds  of  turnips,  or  seventy- 
three  pounds  of  cucumbers,  to  furnish  as  much  heat  as 
one  pound  of  northern  corn  meal. 

The  comparative  proportions  of  carbonates  and  ni- 
trates in  wheat,  and  indeed  all  the  cereals  that  grow 
both  in  northern  and  southern  climates,  as  well  as 
those  of  all  other  natural  products  of  the  soil,  plainly 
declare  the  will  of  God  in  regard  to  summer  and  winter 
food,  as  do  also  our  appetites  and  tastes. 

In  the  spring  we  lose  our  desire  for  butter  and  buck- 
wheats, and  begin  to  crave  some  acid  fruits  and  green 
vegetables.  And  yet  how  many  thoughtless  housekeep- 
ers at  the  north  go  through  nearly  the  same  routine  of 
cooking  in  summer  as  in  winter,  with  just  about  as 
much  butter  and  lard  and  fat  beef,  and  even  pork,  and 
fat  gravy,  and  flour  puddings,  with  butter  sauce ; not 
because  they  like  it  as  well,  or  think  it  as  wholesome, 
but  only  because  their  mothers  did  so  before  them  ! ” 
And  so  powerful  is  this  thoughtless  and  absurd  habit  in 
the  Southern  States,  that  it  is  said  that  however  plen- 
tiful may  be  the  supply  of  milk,  and  cheese,  and  green 
vegetables,  fresh  lean  beef,  and  fruits,  &c.,  a southern 
family  always  has  on  the  table  a smoked  ham  or  a ” side 
of  pork,”  and  their  vegetables  are  cooked  swimming  in 
fat ; and  to  force  an  appetite,  they  use  the  most  stimu- 
lating spices  and  condiments.  In  short,  their  food  in 


140  MAN  EXPECTED  TO  UNDERSTAND  THE  LAW. 

the  hottest  weather  is  suitable  only  for  the  coldest 
northern  winter  weather.  Is  it  strange  that  diseases 
prevail  ? 

We  need  in  summer  or  winter,  whether  using  mus- 
cles or  brains,  or  neither,  every  day  food  containing 
carbonates  for  the  lungs,  nitrates  for  the  muscles  and 
tissues,  and  phosphates  for  the  vital  powers,  but  we 
need  them  in  very  different  proportions,  according  to 
the  temperature  in  which  we  live  and  our  habits  of  life. 
These  elements  are  furnished  at  our  hands,  varying  in 
proportions  so  as  to  be  adapted  to  the  different  temper- 
atures and  habits ; and  for  animals  that  have  instincts 
and  not  intellects  to  guide  them,  from  the  elephant  to 
the  smallest  animalcule,  these  different  elements  are  so 
mixed  and  prepared,  and  the  appetite  so  adjusted  to 
them,  that  they  always  want,  and  always  have,  and 
always  eat  the  right  kind  of  food  at  the  right  time,  and 
the  right  quantity. 

But  man,  who  has  intellect,  is  expected  to  under- 
stand the  laws  of  his  being,  and  to  adapt  his  food  to 
the  wants  of  his  nature,  varying  it  according  to 
circumstances.  We  are  creatures  of  habit,  and  our 
systems  have  wonderful  power  in  adapting  themselves 
to  circumstances ; and  therefore  we  do  not  all  die,  how- 
ever thoughtlessly  we  live,  and  however  perse veringly 
continue  the  wrong  habits  to  which  we  have  been 
accustomed ; and  our  appetites  falling  in  with  our 
habits,  the  evils  of  wrong  living  are  perpetuated. 
Still  it  is  true  everywhere  that  the  average  amount  of 
health  and  the  average  length  of  life  are  in  exact 


EESPONSIBILITY  OF  WIVES  AND  MOTHERS.  141 

proportion  to  the  care^’^e  take  to  live  in  accordance 
with  the  laws  of  our  being.  This  statistics  show,  and 
our  own  observations  confirm. 

But  what  a responsibility  these  considerations  place 
upon  wives  and  mothers,  who  have,  or  ought  to  have, 
the  direction  of  these  matters  ! To  them,  in  provi- 
dence, as  in  the  word  of  God,  the  injunction  emphati- 
cally is,  " Keep  my  commandments,  for  length  of  days, 
and  long  life,  and  peace  shall  they  add  to  thee,”  and 
to  thy  family.  This  important  promise  is  fulfilled 
literally  to  those  who  study  to  obey  physical  laws, 
however  figurative  its  fulfilment  may  be  in  regard  to 
moral  law. 

Does  any  one  doubt  that  peace  to  the  digestive 
organs,  and  freedom  from  fevers  and  summer  com- 
plaints, and  many  other  fatal  diseases,  would  result 
from  a strict  observance  of  the  law,  so  clearly  re- 
vealed, that  fat  meats,  and  butter,  and  fine  flour,  and 
other  stimulating  carboniferous  food  should  be  avoided 
in  warm  weather,  while  such  articles  should  be  substi- 
tuted as  contain  the  carbonates  in  a less  concentrated 
form,  combined  with  such  acid  fruits  and  vegetables, 
and  the  grains  which  contain  less  oil  and  starch,  and 
more  of  the  nitrates  and  phosphates  ? 

With  half  the  study  that  is  required  to  learn  a com- 
plicated piece  of  needlework,  or  a difficult  piece  of 
music,  any  intelligent  housekeeper  could  learn  the 
dietetic  laws,  and  institute  an  arrangement  adapting 
them  to  the  mental  or  muscular  employment  of  her 
family,  so  as  to  give  them  the  requisite  variety  of 


142 


FOOD  FOR  OLD  PEOPLE. 


wholesome  food  for  summer  and  winter ; for  work  of 
brain  or  work  of  muscles ; and  add  immeasurably  to 
the  length  of  life  and  to  the  comfort  and  health  of  her 
family.  But  how  little  attention  is  given  to  this  im- 
portant subject ! 


Adaptation  of  Food  to  different  Conditions  and 
Employments  in  Life. 

Food  for  Old  People. 

Is  your  fat,  good-natured  old  grandfather  living  on 
fat  beef  and  pork,  white  bread  and  butter,  buckwheat 
cakes  and  molasses,  rice  and  sugar,  till  he  has  lost  all 
mental  and  physical  energy,  and  desires  to  sit  from 
morning  till  night  in  the  chimney-corner  or  at  the  reg- 
ister, saying  nothing  and  caring  for  nothing? — change 
his  diet,  give  him  fish,  beefsteak,  potatoes,  and  un- 
bolted wheat  bread,  or  rye  and  Indian,  with  one  half 
or  three  quarters  of  the  carboniferous  articles  of  his 
former  diet,  and  in  one  week  he  will  cheer  you  again 
with  his  old  jokes,  and  call  for  his  hat  and  cane. 

Is  he  lean,  and  cold,  and  restless,  and  irritable? 
— give  him  the  fattest  meats,  with  the  best  of  but- 
ter, and  as  much  sugar  and  molasses  as  he  desires, 
not  taking  away  entirely  food  for  the  brain  and 
muscles,  but  adapting  them  to  his  circumstances. 
Perhaps  his  brain  has  been  overworked,  and  exhaus- 
tion and  fitful  action  follow.  If  so,  he  needs  some 
form  of  phosphatic  food  to  which  he  has  not  been 


FOOD  FOK  NUKSING  MOTHEKS. 


143 


accustomed,  as  oat-meal  porridge,  or  oat-meal  cake, 
with  milk,  or  a diet  of  fish,  and  pearl  barley,  or  pea 
soup.  Or  perhaps  his  restlessness  comes  from  inactivity 
of  the  bowels : if  so,  he  needs  fruits,  vegetables,  un- 
bolted wheat  bread,  &c.,  with  care  to  keep  his  mind  at 
ease,  and  to  have  only  such  company  as  is  soothing 
and  agreeable. 

Or  perhaps  his  irritability  arises  from  the  use  of  too 
much  meat  and  other  phosphatic  food : if  so,  keep  him 
on  a diet  in  which  the  phosphates  are  deficient,  as  rice, 
flour  bread  and  butter,  &c.,  with  other  food  adapted 
to  his  other  conditions  and  habits.  But  that  a regard 
to  these  different  conditions,  and  an  adaptation  of  food 
to  conform  to  them,  will  very  much  contribute  to  com- 
fort and  happiness  in  the  declining  years  of  life,  there 
is  not  a shadow  of  doubt. 


Food  for  Children. 

Is  your  nursing  babe,  eight  months  old,  feeble  and 
inactive,  its  teeth  coming  through  the  gums  already 
black  and  defective,  and  its  soft,  flabby  flesh  indicating 
a want  of  muscular  fibre  ? — change  your  own  food  at 
once,  and  give  up  butter,  and  fine  flour,  and  cakes,  and 
puddings  with  sweet  sauce,  and  take  instead  beefsteak, 
oat- meal  or  barley  porridge,  with  milk  and  unbolted 
wheat  bread,  grits,  pea  soup,  &c.,  which  abound  in 
phosphates  and  nitrates,  and  in  one  week  you  shall  see 
an  improvement  in  the  condition  of  the  child ; but  if 
your  own  health  will  not  admit  of  such  a change,  wean 


144  ‘ FOOD  FOR  CHILDREN. 

the  babe,  and  give  it  the  milk  of  the  cow,  oat-meal 
gruel,  &c. ; and  for  the  next  child,  be  sure  and  com- 
mence furnishing  the  material  for  bone  and  muscle  at 
least  fourteen  months  earlier,  and  its  teeth  will  not  be 
defective,  or  its  muscles  feeble  and  flabby. 

Nor  are  defective  teeth  and  undeveloped  muscles  the 
only  or  the  greatest  evils  that  accrue  from  neglect  to 
furnish  suitable  material  for  the  foundation  of  that 
structure  which  is  so  important  as  to  be  denominated 
the  temple  of  God.”  ” Know  ye  not  that  ye  are  the 
temple  of  God,  and  the  Spirit  of  God  dwelleth  in  you?” 

All  nature,  as  well  as  the  word  of  God,  testifies  that 
the  crowning  work  of  creation  was  man ; indeed,  all 
other  creative  work  was  but  a preparation  for  man,  and 
so  far  at  least  as  relates  to  this  planet,  all  creative  work 
ended  in  making  man. 

But  man  was  not  created  from  nothing,  but  from 
elements  which  had  for  ages  been  collecting  in  the 
" dust  of  the  ground  ; ” and  having  at  first  taken  these 
elements  directly  from  the  soil,  and  constructed  a per- 
fect man,  God,  with  wisdom  as  incomprehensible  to 
man  as  that  by  which  the  first  man  was  created,  insti- 
tuted laws  by  which  all  necessary  elements  should  be 
taken  out  of  the  soil  by  plants,  and  so  organized  as 
under  certain  laws  and  conditions  to  be  able  to  con- 
struct other  perfect  human  beings,  and  thus  perpetuate 
the  race,  as  we  have  before  explained'. 

These  fourteen  elements,  which  were  at  first  taken 
directly  from  the  soil  and  atmosphere,  are  now  all 
found  deposited  in  the  grains,  and  flesh  of  animals, 


FOURTEEN  ELEMENTS  REQUIRED. 


145 


and  fruits  and  vegetables,  and  for  the  construction  of 
a perfect  human  being  must  all  be  used,  at  first 
through  the  mother’s  system,  and  afterwards  directly 
from  the  food  in  which  they  are  deposited.  This 
wonderful  arrangement  can  be  better  understood  by 
further  explanation. 

A grain  of  wheat,  as  proved  by  analysis,  contains 
every  one  of  the  elements  found  in  the  human  system. 
Plant  a grain  of  wheat  in  soil  in  which  is  no  lime,  or 
phosphorus,  or  nitrogen,  and  the  plant  may  grow  from 
the  carbon  and  hydrogen,  and  other  elements  which  it 
can  get  from  the  soil,  the  air,  and  water,  but  the  grain 
would  not  be  developed,  and  analysis  would  show  that 
phosphorus,  lime,  and  nitrogen  would  be  wanting  in  the 
plant  and  grain  as  it  was  wanting  in  the  soil.  Now, 
as  in  such  imperfectly  developed  grain  the  phosphorus, 
and  lime,  and  nitrogen,  which  were  intended  for  forming 
brains,  and  bones,  and  muscles,  are  not  there,  is  it  not 
certain  that  such  grain  could  not  develop  brains,  and 
bones,  and  muscles?  — for  if  wheat  does  not  contain 
phosphorus,  lime,  and  nitrogen,  unless  the  soil  in  which 
it  grows  contains  these  elements,  is  it  not  certain  that 
the  human  system  cannot  be  developed  by  food  wanting 
in  these  or  any  other  important  elements  ? 

In  soil  containing  as  little  phosphorus,  lime,  and 
nitrogen  as  are  found  in  superfine  flour  bread  and 
butter,  the  grain  of  wheat  would  not  be  developed  at 
all ; and  can  a child,  for  which  wheat  was  made,  be 
developed  on  white  bread  and  butter?  Milk  of  the 
cow  contains  all  the  elements  of  the  human  system, 
10 


146 


PEEMATURE  DEATHS. 


and  in  the  right  proportions ; and  if  concentrated, 
or  if  the  stomach  were  large  enough  to  contain  these 
elements  in  their  diluted  state,  in  sufficient  quanti- 
ties, would  support  the  life  and  health  of  any  man 
indefinitely. 

Primarily  it  was  intended  to  develop  the  calf,  and  it 
does  develop  every  part  perfectly ; but  feed  the  calf  on 
cream  alone,  or  butter,  and  it  would  die  in  two  weeks. 
Can  butter,  then,  develop  a human  being?  And  yet 
how  many  expectant  and  nursing  mothers  thought- 
lessly provide  themselves  and  their  precious  little  ones 
with  food  made  up  mainly  of  superfine  fiour,  butter, 
and  sugar,  without  knowing  or  thinking  that  sugar  and 
butter  have  no  elements  at  all  for  muscles,  or  bones,  or 
brains,  and  white  flour  very  little. 

If  they  ate  nothing  else,  of  course  their  children 
would  all  die  within  a month ; and  as  it  is,  only  one 
half  in  all  Christendom,  and  not  one  eighth  in  all 
Heathendom,  have  vital  power  to  carry  them  through 
the  first  five  years.  Those  that  live  have  a life  of 
struggle  with  disease  and  suffering  in  just  the  propor- 
tion as  they  are  deprived  of  food  containing  elements 
adapted  to  develop  the  whole  system,  and  give  power 
to  resist  and  overcome  disease.  The  inevitable  effects 
of  the  diet  almost  universally  adopted  is,  to  stimulate 
all  the  organs  by  the  undue  proportion  of  carbon,  of 
which  the  butter,  fine  flour,  and  sugar  are  composed, 
which  form  so  large  a part  of  our  diet,  and  which 
render  all  organs  more  susceptible  to  inflammations 
and  other  diseases ; while  the  deficiency  of  the  nitrates 


EFFECTS  OF  HEATING  FOOD. 


147 


and  phosphates,  weakening  the  organs  and  diminishing 
the  powers  of  life,  renders  them  less  able  to  resist  and 
throw  off  diseases  as  they  occur. 

Take,  for  example,  the  lungs,  whose  duties  are  to 
keep  up  the  steam  and  "run  the  machine,” — duties,  the 
importance  of  which  is  seen  by  the  fact  that,  if  for  a 
single  moment  they  cease  to  act,  every  operation  of  the 
system  is  suspended  and  life  becomes  extinct.  Over- 
burdened with  work  in  order  to  dispose  of  the  great 
excess  of  fuel  imposed  upon  them,  the  tissues  are 
feeble  for  want  of  their  appropriate  food ; and  is  it 
strange  that  they  fail,  and  become  diseased? 

Or,  take  the  brain  and  nervous  system,  which,  being 
overheated  with  carboniferous  blood,  and  weakened  by 
want  of  phosphorus,  become  sluggish  and  inactive,  or 
act  fitfully,  and  headache  and  neuralgia  ensue ; or, 
being  nervous  and  irritable,  a thousand  ills,  real  and 
imaginary,  render  life  a burden. 

Or,  take  the  liver,  whose  office  is  to  eliminate  effete 
elements  from  the  system  and  assist  digestion.  Over- 
burdened with  work,  especially  in  the  spring,  after  the 
steam  has  for  months  been  kept  up  to  the  highest 
practicable  point,  it  gets  tired  and  sluggish,  and  the 
bile  becomes  obstructed,  and  jaundice  and  many  other 
bilious  difficulties  ensue,  and  thus  all  organs  are  made 
more  susceptible  to  disease,  and  less  able  to  resist  it, 
by  too  much  of  the  carbonates  and  too  little  of  the 
nitrates  and  phosphates. 

While,  therefore,  all  animals,  in  their  natural  state, 
living  as  they  do  according  to  natural  laws,  raise  all 


148 


APPROPKIATE  FOOD  FOR  CHILDREN. 


their  young,  ^and  bring  them  perfectly  developed  to  full 
maturity,  a perfectly  developed  young  man  or  v^oman, 
at  full  maturity,  with  perfect  teeth  and  sound  lungs, 
and  well  developed  muscles  and  brains,  is  a rare  excep- 
tion to  the  general  rule ; and  to  every  reflecting  mind 
the  reason  must  be  obvious : we  neglect  to  learn,  and 
utterly  disregard  the  plain  laws  of  our  being,  and  these 
terrible  sufferings  and  bereavements  are  the  natural  and 
just  penalties  for  our  disobedience. 

Can  any  other  explanation  be  given,  why  beings  sup- 
ported by  the  same  elements,  and  subject  to  the  same 
physical  laws,  should  be  found  in  such  different  physi- 
cal conditions?  Mothers’  milk,  if  the  mother  live  on 
proper  food,  is  undoubtedly  the  best,  as  it  is  the  natu- 
ral food  for  children  till  teeth  are  formed,  which  indi- 
cate a maturity  that  requires  some  other  food ; but 
sickly  mothers,  and  those  who  live  on  white  bread  and 
butter,  would  subserve  the  interests  of  their  children  by 
weaning  them,  and  substituting  the  milk  of  the  cow. 
For  young  children  the  cow  furnishes  milk  with  too 
much  of  nitrogenous  matter ; and  the  reason  for  this 
provision  is  obvious,  as  I have  explained. 

When  other  food  than  milk  is  required,  that  contain- 
ing some  nourishment  for  the  muscles  and  brain  should 
always  be  selected,  which  can  readily  be  known  by 
reference  to  the  tables  of  analysis ; but  starch,  and 
arrowroot,  and  sugar,  and  cream,  all  of  which  are 
sometimes  given  in  ignorance  of  their  character,  con- 
tain no  element  of  food  but  carbon,  and  would  only 
tend  to  develop  torpidity  and  foolishness ; but,  on  the 


FOOD  TO  DEVELOP  VITAL  POWER. 


149 


other  hand,  beefsteak  and  oat-meal,  and  such  other 
articles  of  food  as  contain  large  proportions  of  nitroge- 
nous and  phosphatic  elementj^  tend  to  develop  the 
muscles  and  brain  too  rapidly,  and  render  the  child 
liable  to  congestion  of  the  brain ; and  a special  regard 
should  be  had  to  this  consideration  where  the  child  is 
very  active  and  precocious.  Such  children  always  die 
young,  unless  special  care  is  taken  of  their  diet  and 
general  management. 

Food  for  Children  deficient  in  Vital  Energy  and 
Muscular  Poicer. 

That  muscular  power  is  increased  by  exercise  has 
been  long  known.  More  than  seven  hundred  years 
before  the  Christian  era  the  Olympic  games  were 
celebrated,  consisting  in  throwing  quoits,  leaping, 
wrestling,  boxing,  &c.,  which  were  held  on  a certain 
day  corresponding  to  the  11th  of  July,  and  lasting 
five  days,  for  which  the  competitors  prepared  them- 
selves by  training  in  the  gymnasium  for  ten  months. 
For  a thousand  years  at  least  these  games,  with  a 
few  temporary  interruptions,  were  regularly  celebrated, 
occupying  the  minds  of  the  whole  Grecian  nation ; and 
at  that  age  the  training  of  muscles  was  considered 
vastly  more  important  than  the  training  of  mind.  Of 
the  diet  used  in  this  training  but  little  is  now  known ; 
but  Pliny  says,  " the  gladiators  ate  only  barley  bread, 
and  hence  they  were  called  Hordearii,”  hordeum  being 
the  Greek  name  for  barley. 


150 


FOOD  TO  DEVELOP  MUSCLES. 


Jackson,  the  noted  English  trainer  of  prize-fighters, 
feeds  his  men  on  the  lean  muscle  of  fat  beef  and  mut- 
ton, with  coarse  barley  and  wheat  bread.  It  is  not 
likely  that  ancient  gladiators  or  modern  prize-fighters 
understood  either  the  chemical  elements  of  the  human 
system,  or  the  adaptation  of  those  articles  of  food  to 
supply  the  requisite  elements  of  muscular  power ; but 
it  is  interesting  to  notice  that  experience  brought  them 
to  the  same  conclusions  as  chemical  analysis.*  The 
muscles  of  beef  and  mutton  contain  the  same  elements 
as  human  muscles,  and  are  therefore  adapted  to  nour- 
ish them,  while  unbolted  wheat  and  barley  furnish  also 
a due  proportion  of  flesh-making  materials  ; and  also  in 
each  of  these  articles  are  the  phosphates,  which  give 
vital  force,  wheat  containing  them  in  proportions  neces- 
sary for  common  exercise,  and  barley  and  the  flesh  of 
beef  and  mutton  more  than  double  the  proportion  of 
those  of  wheat. 

If,  then,  both  science  and  experience  show  that  mus- 
cular power  can  be  increased  by  muscle-making  food, 
is  it  not  reasonable  that  feeble  children  should  be  made 
stronger  by  application  of  the  same  principle?  What 
duty,  then,  can  be  clearer  than  the  duty  of  feeding  our 
dormant,  sleepy,  and  feeble  children  on  food  containing 
a full  share  of  nitrates  and  phosphates,  as  lean  meat, 
oat  meal,  barley  cakes,  beans,  peas,  &c.,  rather  than 
the  stupefying  carbonates,  as  fat  meat,  fine  flour, 
butter,  sugar,  or  puddings  and  pies,  cakes,  &c.,  which 
are  made  up  of  these  articles  ? 

♦ Jockeys  also  reduce  their  weight  by  living  on  fish  and  lean  moat 
with  little  carbonaceous  food. 


IMPURE  BLOOD. 


151 


How  the  Blood  becomes  Impure. 

We  find  by  cliemical  analysis  that  the  blood  is  com- 
posed of  the  fourteen  elements  which  make  up  the 
different  parts  of  the  system,  and  such  other  elements 
as  have  been  taken  into  the  system  with  improper  food 
and  drink,  and  are  allowed  to  go  into  the  circulation, 
although  not  wanted  for  the  use  of  any  organ  or  func- 
tion, because  they  cannot  be  removed  in  any  other 
way  than  through  the  lungs,  or  skin,  or  kidneys,  and 
must  go  into  the  circulation  to  get  out  of  the  system. 
They  are,  of  course,  not  permanently  found  in  the 
blood,  but  vary  in  proportions  and  character  accord- 
ing to  the  care  we  take  in  regard  to  our  food  and 
drink. 

If  we  ate  only  natural  food,  and  drank  only  pure 
water,  and  breathed  only  pure  air,  the  blood  would 
consist  of  the  fourteen  elements  only  which  constitute 
the  solids  and  juices  of  the  human  system.  It  is 
evident,  therefore,  that  pure  blood  is  made  from  pure 
air,  pure  water,  and  natural  food,  and  that  while 
nothing  else  is  admitted  into  the  system,  the  blood 
cannot  be  impure ; and  if  the  blood  in  any  case  is 
found  to  be  impure,  it  is  because  the  food,  or  drink, 
or  air  are  not  plentifully  supplied,  or  are  not  pure  or 
natural,  and  in  just  the  proportion  as  they  are  not 
pure  and  natural,  or  are  not  supplied  in  sufficient 
quantity. 

We  come,  then,  at  once  to  the  only  way  in  which  the 
blood  can  be  kept  pure,  or  renovated  when  found  to  be 


152 


PURE  BLOOD. 


impure.  If  the  blood  is  impure  in  consequence  of 
additions  to  its  natural  element  derived  from  the  food, 
or  air,  or  water,  our  first  duty  is  to  see  that  the  source 
of  impurity  is  stopped,  and  then  Nature  will  soon  re- 
move the  impurities.  If  it  is  impure  from  want  of 
supply  of  its  natural  elements,  then  our  duty  is  also 
plain,  for  every  necessary  element  is  supplied  in 
natural  food,  and  we  have  only  to  use  our  judgment 
\n  selecting  the  articles  which  contain  such  as  are 
leeded. 


How  can  we  know  what  Elements  are  wanted  to  make 
the  Blood  Pure? 

Just  as  we  determine  what  is  wanted  to  supply  any 
requisition — by  comparing  the  supply  with  the  demand. 
If  a merchant  were  required  to  furnish  a dozen  different 
articles  of  merchandise,  including  gloves,  and  should 
by  mistake  deliver  only  eleven  articles,  he  would  have 
no  difficulty  in  determining  that  gloves  were  the  item 
wanted,  if  the  other  articles  had  all  been  supplied. 
Suppose  we  have  a daughter  of  sixteen,  ash-colored, 
feeble,  and  undeveloped.  If  we  look  over  the  list  of 
elements,  and  the  proportions  of  them  required  to  keeji 
the  system  and  blood  in  perfect  condition,  as  shown 
by  the  table  of  analysis  of  different  articles  of  food, 
find  as  compared  with  elements  of  the  human  system, 
we  shall  probably  find  that,  instead  of  the  necessary 
elements  for  the  blood  and  the  vital  powers,  slie  has 
been  accustomed  to  food  made  up  to  a great  extent  of 


WHY  BLOOD  IS  NOT  PUEE. 


153 


butter,  superfine  flour,  and  sugar,  which  contain  but 
very  little  nutriment  for  the  blood  or  vital  powers, 
mixed  perhaps  with  other  articles  containing  the  requi- 
site elements,  but  out  of  proportion  to  the  wants  of  the 
system.  Being  supplied  to  repletion  with  carbonaceous 
food,  there  was  no  room  for  other  requisite  principles, 
and  the  results  were  inevitable.  Her  blood  is  colorless 
and  impure,  and  she  is  feeble  and  chlorotic,  because 
her  food  was  deficient  in  the  elements  which  constitute 
good  blood. 

I have  investigated  scores,  and  perhaps  hundreds  of 
such  cases,  and  invariably  find  the  principal  cause  to 
be,  that  from  childhood  they  have  been  fed  on  white 
bread  and  butter,  sweet  cakes,  flour  puddings,  pie- 
crust, confectioneries,  &c.,  which  had  kept  the  system 
in  a heated,  feverish  condition,  with  a deficiency  of 
fruits  and  vegetables,  that  assist  in  eliminating  from 
the  system  the  impurities  engendered  by  the  excess  of 
carbon  in  the  system,  and  a deficiency  of  coarse  bread, 
milk,  fish,  lean  meat,  &c.,  which  contain  the  phospho- 
rus, iron,  and  other  mineral  elements  necessary  for  the 
purity  of  the  blood ; and  they  had  generally  lost  their 
appetites  for  the  necessary  articles  of  food,  and  had 
acquired  instead  a morbid  desire  for  something  strange 
and  unnatural,  as  chalk,  slate  pencils,  pungent  spices, 
pickled  limes,  &c.  The  evils  of  these  habits  are  gen- 
erally increased  by  want  of  exercise  to  carry  off  accu- 
mulated impurities,  and  the  blood  becomes  too  poor  to 
be  able  to  carry  on  the  functions  of  the  system.  The 
tissues  of  the  lungs  break  down  under  the  burden.“v 


154 


HOW  TO  PURIFY  THE  BLOOD. 


imposed  upon  them,  consumption  ensues,  and  we  lose 
our  daughters,  murmuring,  perhaps,  at  the  mysterious 
providence  by  which  we  are  so  afflicted. 

How  to  Purify  the  Blood. 

We  have  seen  that  impurity  of  the  blood  consists  of 
excess  of  some  elements  and  deficiency  of  others,  and 
that  by  comparing  the  list  of  elements  required  with 
the  list  habitually  supplied,  we  can  ascertain  what  ele- 
ments are  wanting  and  what  are  in  excess ; and  having 
an  analysis  of  all  the  articles  of  food  in  common  use, 
which  contain  all  the  elements  of  the  human  system 
in  different  proportions,  we  have  but  to  use  our  com- 
mon sense  in  selecting  such  as  will  supply  the  deficient 
elements,  or  avoid  the  excessive. 

The  intelligent  farmer  finds  that  some  of  his  land 
will  not  produce  wheat ; and  by  analysis  he  will  be  sure 
to  find  that  the  elements  of  wheat  are  wanting,  or  are 
excessive.  If  wanting,  he  supplies  them  in  such  ma- 
nure as  is  known  to  contain  them,  and  is  sure  of  a crop 
of  wheat;  or,  if  excessive,  he  plants  the  ground  with 
other  crops  that  need  the  excessive  elements,  and  after 
they  are  thus  removed  he  can  get  a crop  of  wheat. 

What  should  we  think  of  the  farmer  whose  land 
needed  phosphorus,  and  nothing  else,  for  a crop  of 
wheat,  who  should  follow  the  advice  of  his  neighbors, 
as  ignorant  as  himself,  and  use  lime,  and  ashes,  and 
salt,  and  a dozen  other  things  that  contained  no  phos- 
phorus, because  somebody  else  had  used  some  of  these 


HOW  TO  PUEIFY  THE  BLOOD. 


155 


articles  on  land  perhaps  entirely  different,  and  had 
found  them  useful.  No  article  in  the  world  could  do 
good  unless  it  contained  phosphorus,  but  might  do 
harm  if  it  contained  elements  already  sufficiently  sup- 
plied, and  perhaps  already  in  excess . But  this  is  the 
method  almost  universally  adopted  by  mothers,  in  order 
to  purify  the  blood  of  their  children.  That  mother  is 
indeed  a rare  exception,  who  does  not,  when  her  daugh- 
ter is  pale,  and  she  fears  impurities  of  the  blood,  or 
perhaps  to  prevent  such  an  evil,  resort  to  something 
which  somebody  says  is  good  for  the  blood,  for  she  has 
tried  it,  without  stopping  to  consider  the  absurdity  of 
the  experiment,  or  whether  it  may  not,  as  it  must,  do 
harm  by  troubling  the  stomach  with  elements  never 
intended  for  the  human  system,  and  therefore  necessa- 
rily injurious. 

In  this  way  are  annually  expended  millions  of  dol- 
lars in  Purification,  or  Plantation  Bitters,  '' Important 
Medical  Discoveries,  that  cure  all  humors  but  the 
Thunder  Humor,”  Oxygenated  Gas,  Compound  Sarsa- 
parilla, and  the  thousand  and  one  other  advertised 
sovereign  remedies,  not  one  of  which  contains  a single 
element  of  the  blood,  or  can  by  any  possibility  do 
good,  and  all  must,  from  their  want  of  adaptation  to 
the  plain  requirements  of  the  system,  if  not  from  their 
poisonous  character,  do  more  or  less  harm ; and  that 
they  cannot  as  medicines  do  good,  can  be  shown  by 
principles  as  simple.  But  this  subject  will  be  consid- 
ered elsewhere. 


156 


MINEEAL  ELEMENTS. 


All  Elements  of  Food  must  have  been  organized  in 
some  Vegetable,  or  they  are  rejected, 

Not  only  is  it  impossible  to  purify  the  blood  by  the 
use  of  articles  recommended  by  ignorant  empirics,  as 
we  have  endeavored  to  show,  and  useless  to  attempt 
any  purification  except  by  the  common-sense  expedient 
of  supplying  deficient  elements,  and  removing  or  with- 
holding redundant  ones,  statements,  the  truth  of  which 
will  be  understood  and  appreciated  by  all,  learned  or 
unlearned ; but  it  is  also  true,  as  I shall  endeavor  to 
prove,  that  no  element,  however  much  it  may  be 
wanted  in  the  system,  can  be  made  to  become  a con- 
stituent of  the  blood,  or  be  appropriated  by  any  of  the 
tissues,  unless  that  element  has  been  organized  in  some 
plant,  and  is  thus  fitted  to  be  received  according  to  the 
law  of  nature. 

I make  this  proposition  with  diffidence,  because  it 
has  not  been  considered  by  our  scientific  physicians  ; 
and  every  day,  chlorotic  girls  and  other  patients  are 
furnished  with  disorganized  iron,  and  other  elements 
from  the  shops,  with  the  expectation  that  they  will  supply 
the  deficiency  of  the  elements  which  are  supposed  to 
be  wanted  to  restore  the  blood  to  its  normal  condition ; 
and  one  learned  professor,  as  I have  before  stated,  is 
endeavoring  to  supply  the  posphorus,  which  liad  been 
taken  out  of  the  wheat,  where  it  was  organized  and 
prepared  to  supply  the  system  with  that  important 


ALL  ELEMENTS  MUST  BE  OKGANIZEL. 


157 


element,  by  adding  to  the  flour  salts  made  from  dis- 
organized phosphoric  acid. 

I have  elsewhere  referred  to  the  great  plan  of 
nature,  by  which  all  the  elements  necessary  to  be 
used  in  making  or  repairing  the  system  were  depos- 
ited in  the  soil  before  man  was  made,  to  be  taken  up 
in  the  sap  of  plants,  and  vegetables,  and  fruit  trees, 
and  deposited  in  the  seed,  and  fruits,  and  juices  of  these 
trees  and  plants,  in  just  the  proportions  necessary  to 
supply  every  organ  and  function ; then  to  be  eaten,  and 
digested,  and  made  a constituent  of  the  blood,  and 
appropriated  by  the  organs  and  tissues ; then  to  be  cast 
off  by  the  excretions,  and  again  deposited  in  the  soil, 
to  be  again  taken  up  by  vegetation,  and  continue  their 
rounds  perpetually. 

Now  this  is  undoubtedly  the  best  arrangement  for 
supplying  the  human  system  with  all  necessary  ele- 
ments that  even  God  could  make  — an  arrangement,  to 
short-sighted  man,  wonderful  and  incomprehensible ; 
and  is  it  for  us,  who  have  not  intellect  sufficient  to 
understand  one  of  the  processes  by  which  this  plan  is 
yxecuted,  to  say  that  any  part  of  it  is  unnecessary?  — 
that  iron  and  phosphorus,  prepared  from  crude,  unor- 
ganized materials,  in  the  laboratory  of  any  chemist,  are 
just  as  well  adapted  to  supply  the  wants  of  the  human 
system,  as  these  elements  prepared  in  Nature’s  own 
laboratory?  Why  not,  then,  take  carbon  and  nitro- 
gen, or  the  other  elements,  directly  from  the  ground, 
and  repair  the  whole  system,  or  make  a new  man,  by  a 
shorter  and  cheaper  process? 


158 


WHAT  CONSTITUTES  A POISON. 


The  Penalty  for  faking  into  the  Stomach  Elements 
of  Food  not  organized. 

After  such  infinite  pains  to  perfect  a plan  for  supply- 
ing the  human  system  with  every  necessary  element,  it 
seems  to  me  reasonable,  and  perfectly  consonant  with 
Nature’s  other  laws,  that  an  ordinance  should  be  insti- 
tuted requiring  that  no  elements  should  be  admitted 
into  the  system  except  in  accordance  with  this  arrange- 
ment, and  that  every  attempt  to  introduce  them  should 
be  visited  by  punishment,  more  or  less  severe,  according 
to  the  importance  of  the  element ; and  this  we  find  to 
be  true. 

Not  an  element  is  allowed  to  be  incorporated  into, 
and  become  a part  of  the  blood,  or  any  organ  or  tissue, 
that  is  not  fitted  for  digestion  in  some  vegetable ; and 
if  any  element  is  offered  that  is  not  thus  prepared,  a 
rebellion  ensues,  more  or  less  energetic  and  severe, 
according  to  the  importance  of  the  element.  This 
rebellion,  or  excitement,  is  injurious  to  the  system, 
and  all  the  organs  and  functions  involved ; and  this 
is  what  is  meant  by  the  word  poison^  and  constitutes 
the  penalty. 

Phosphorus,  for  example,  is  a very  important  ele- 
ment, being  the  element  on  which  the  action  of  the 
biain  depends,  and  the  physical  source  of  vitality,  and 
an  important  constituent,  as  well,  of  bones  and  other 
solid  tissues.  In  a comrmon-sized  man  there  are  found 
to  be  nearly  two  pounds  of  solid  phosphorus,  doing  its 


MOST  IMPOKTANT  ELEMENTS  MOST  POISONOUS.  159 


important  work  quietly  and  harmlessly ; but  take  two 
grains  of  the  two  pounds  which  have  been  disorganized 
as  can  easily  be  done  by  calcining  a bone,  and  attempt 
to  put  them  back  and  reorganize  them,  by  giving  them 
at  once  to  a healthy  man,  and  such  an  excitement  is  pro- 
duced,  especially  of  the  brain,  that  delirium,  inflamma- 
tion, and  death  might  ensue  within  a single  hour ; but 
give  ten  times  that  amount,  organized  in  oat-meal  or 
barley  cake,  or  any  other  natural  food  containing  it,  and 
the  system  will  quietly  and  gratefully  appropriate  what 
it  needs,  and  reject  the  remainder  without  excitement 
or  harm. 

And  can  we  resist  or  gainsay  the  evidence  thus  fur- 
nished, that  oat-meal  and  barley  cakes,  and  unbolted 
wheat  flour,  are  the  appropriate  means  of  introducing 
phosphorus  into  the  system,  rather  than  phosphatic 
bread,  the  phosphorus  in  which  was  taken  from  cal- 
cined bones? 

The  Penalty  of  taking  Disorganized  Iron, 

Iron  is  a necessary,  but  less  important,  element  of 
the  human  system  than  phosphorus.  It  is  found  in  the 
bran  of  wheat  and  other  grains,  and  vegetables,  and, 
being  transferred  from  them,  is  found  also  in  the  mus- 
cles and  blood  of  animals,  and  in  the  curd  of  milk,  and 
Other  natural  food,  in  quantitie^s  as  large  as  can  be 
appropriated  by  the  system ; and  this  is  proof  to  my 
mind  that  Nature  intended  it  to  be  furnished  through 
these  articles  of  natural  food. 


160 


IRON  IS  POISONOUS. 


Being  less  important  than  phosphorus,  the  penalties 
for  attempting  to  introduce  it  in  any  other  way  are  less 
severe  and  less  manifest,  but  are  still  sufficiently  appar- 
ent to  corroborate  my  position. 

Dr.  J.  Francis  Churchill,  a French  author,  who  has 
given  great  attention  to  the  effects  of  different  mineral 
elements  on  the  human  system,  in  an  article  headed 
^'Danger  of  Iron  in  Consumption  and  Chlorosis,”  says, 
that  M.  Trousseau,  another  very  celebrated  French 
physician,  whose  authority  in  this  country  to-day  is  as 
high  as  that  of  any  man  living,  has  carefully  investi- 
gated the  effects  of  iron,  and  from  a synopsis  of  a 
report  of  these  investigations  he  makes  the  following 
quotations  : " M.  Trousseau  has  just  given  utterance 

to  an  authoritative  and  positive  statement,  which  will, 
no  doubt,  surprise  the  profession  everywhere.  He 
declares  that  iron  in  any  form,  given  in  chlorotic  affec- 
tions, to  patients  in  whom  the  consumptive  diathesis 
exists,  invariably  fixes  the  diathesis,  and  hastens  the 
development  of  the  tubercles.  The  iron  may  induce  a 
factitious  return  to  health ; the  physician  may  flatter 
himself  that  he  has  corrected  the  chlorotic  condition 
of  his  patient;  but  to  his  surprise,  he  will  find  the 
patient  soon  after  fall  into  a phthisical  state,  from 
which  there  is  no  return.  This  result,  or  at  least  its 
hastening,  M.  Trousseau  attributes  to  the  iron.  The 
assertion  is  a most  startling  one.  M.  Trousseau 
is  nevertheless  so  certain  of  what  he  says,  that  he 
denounces  the  administration  of  iron  in  chlorosis  as 
criminal  in  the  highest  degree.^^  (The  Italics  are  as  in 


DISOEGANIZED  ELEMENTS  NEVER  USED.  161 

the  quotation.)*  This  opinion  is  confirmed  by  my  own 
observation  in  a practice  of  forty  years,  and  furnishes 
proof  suflScient  that  iron  as  well  as  phosphorus  must 
be  introduced  into  the  system  only  as  organized  for 
digestion  in  some  plant,  or  a penalty  must  be  paid. 
The  excitement  that  follows  the  taking  of  iron  is  less 
active  and  less  dangerous  than  after  taking  phospho- 
rus, because  it  is  less  important  to  the  system  to  reject 
it  immediately ; but  it  illustrates  the  arrangement  of 
Providence,  and  establishes  the  same  principle. 

Can  phosphorus,  iron,  oxygen,  hydrogen,  nitrogen, 
carbon,  or  any  other  of  the  fourteen  elements  which 
constitute  the  human  system,  be  made  to  form  a con- 
stituent of  the  blood,  or  any  organ  or  tissue,  unless 
introduced  as  they  are  organized  for  that  purpose,  in 
the  atmosphere  and  water,  and  in  vegetable  and  animal 
food,  before  they  have  become  fermented  or  decom- 
posed ? 

To  comprehend  the  importance  of  this  question,  let 
us  first  glance  at  the  various  methods  in  which  impor- 
tant elements  are  forced  upon  the  human  system,  with 
the  expectation  that  they  will  be  received  and  appropri- 
ated as  if  they  were  introduced  in  accordance  with 
natural  laws,  keeping  in  mind  what  I have  endeavored 
to  prove  in  the  preceding  chapters,  that  all  elements 
offered  are  either  kindly  received  and  appropriated,  or 
are  rejected  as  poisonous. 

Thousands  of  invalids,  feeble  children,  and  especially 
feeble  girls,  are  taking  every  day  some  preparation  of 

♦ Since  making  this  quotation  M.  Trousseau  has  deceased. 

11 


162 


A PHYSIOLOGICAL  ERROR. 


iron,  with  the  expectation  that  it  will  supply  the  sup- 
posed deficiency  of  that  element,  and  thus  give  them 
health  and  strength. 

Phosphorus,  also,  is  introduced  in  superfine  flour 
bread,  with  the  understanding  that  it  can  be  made  to 
take  the  place  of  that  element,  which  had  been  bolted 
out ; and  it  is  also  used  to  supply  the  supposed  deficien- 
cy of  that  element  in.  consumption  and  other  diseases. 
Oxygen,  likewise,  in  the  form  of  gas,  is  taken  to  purify 
the  blood  and  give  vigor  to  the  system. 

Carbon  and  hydrogen  are  taken  in  the  form  of  alco- 
hol, with  the  expectation  that  they  furnish  natural  heat 
to  the  system. 

These  ideas  seem  to  have  come  from  Liebig,  a very 
learned  German  chemist,  who  gave  to  the  world  much 
valuable  information  on  the  subject  of  the  chemistry  of 
food,  and  whose  ideas  for  the  last  twenty  years  have 
been  very  generally  adopted,  but  who  ignored  the  vital 
law  as  controlling  chemical  laws,  and  classed  alcohol 
with  sugar  and  other  carbonaceous  food,  because  it  con- 
tains the  same  elements,  and  who  oflfered  the  analytical 
table  of  alcohol  and  sugar  which  I have  copied  in 
another  chapter,  as  proof  that  alcohol  must  be  nutri- 
tive because  sugar  was  nutritive,  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  the  taste  and  smell,  and  perceptible  effects  of 
the  two  articles,  were  no  more  alike  than  any  other  two 
articles  containing  different  elements.  The  same  argu- 
ment is  still  used  by  eminent  chemists,  which  may 
be  condensed  from  an  argument  already  quoted,  as 
follows  : Phosphorus,  taken  from  bones  without  de- 


ERRONEOUS  OPINIONS. 


163 


oomposition,  is  wholesome,  as  proved  by  experiment ; 
therefore  phosphatic  bread,  although  containing  phos- 
phates chemically  decomposed,  cannot  be  unwhole- 
some. 

Arguments  relied  on  to  sustain  the  Use  of  Disorgan^ 
ized  Elements^  and  to  prove  that  such  Elements  may 
he  and  are  incorporated  into  the  Blood  and  Tissues. 

Practically,  as  has  been  said,  it  is  generally  conceded 
that  elements  wanted  by  the  human  system  can  be  sup- 
plied, and  will  be  received,  whether  they  have  been 
prepared  in  any  vegetable  organization  or  not;  but 
when  the  question  is  put  directly  to  our  chemists  and 
scientific  physicians,  as  it  lately  was  before  the  commit- 
tee of  the  Legislature  on  licensing  the  sale  of  alcohol, 
"Is  alcohol,  or  any  other  disorganized  element,  actu- 
ally appropriated  by  the  organs  or  tissues  as  food,  and 
incorporated  into  them  as  nutrition?”  the  answer  is, 
" That  question  is  not  settled ; ” very  few  being  ready 
to  make  the  assertion  that  it  is. 

And  the  reason  is  obvious.  There  is  no  proof  that 
a single  element  ever  was  made  to  enter  into  the  blood, 
or  any  organ  or  tissue,  as  a part  of  their  constituents, 
unless  it  was  taken  with,  and  formed  a part  of,  some 
food  organized  directly  or  indirectly  by  passing  througPi 
some  vegetable.  I find  but  one  author  who  claims  to 
bring  such  proof,  and  this  proof  I think  can  be  clearly 
shown  to  be  fallacious. 

Frederick  William  Headland,  of  the  Koyal  College 


164  THE  EFFECT  OF  IRON  ON  THE  SYSTEM. 

of  Physicians  in  London,  has  written  a book  on  the 
action  of  medicines,  which  has  recently  been  published 
in  this  country,  and  which  is  adopted  as  a standard 
work.  It  goes  more  thoroughly  into  the  subject  than 
any  other  author. 

He  places  alcohol  as  a stimulant  and  narcotic,  with- 
out the  pretence  that  it  can  be  appropriated  by  the 
system,  to  make  any  part  of  its  tissues  or  fat,  or  even 
be  used  as  fuel  to  produce  animal  heat ; but  in  proof 
that  iron  from  the  shops  does  enter  into  the  blood  as  a 
part  of  it,  he  says,  ”In  some  cases  of  chlorosis  the 
blood  was  analyzed  before  giving  iron  and  after  it  had 
been  given  for  a few  weeks,  and  the  blood  was  found 
to  contain  more  of  red  globules  after  taking  the  iron 
than  before.”  And  this  is  accepted  as  proof  positive 
that  the  red  globules,  or  at  least  the  color  of  the  glob- 
ules, were  produced  by  the  iron  thus  introduced. 

But  scores  of  cases  can  be  brought,  where,  under  a 
different  treatment,  the  results  were  the  same,  and  even 
more  striking,  without  using  a particle  of  iron ; and  my 
explanation  is,  that  the  effect  of  the  iron  was  that  of  a 
mere  stimulant,  promoting  sanguification,  from  food 
taken  in  the  mean  time  containing  iron.  Of  abun- 
dance of  testimony  on  that  point,  I will  bring  only  one 
witness. 

Dr.  Churchill,  whom  I have  already  quoted  as  con- 
demning iron  on  account  of  its  tendency  to  develop 
tubercles,  says,  in  his  book  on  '’^Pulmonary  Phthisis 
und  Tubercular  Diseases,”  that  phosphoric  acid  and  its 
preparations  ” are  the  most  valuable  blood-creating 


IKON  MUST  BE  TAKEN  AS  FOOD. 


165 


agents  known,  as  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  more  rap- 
idly than  any  other  medicine  it  increases  the  quantity 
and  color  of  the  blood ; ” and  he  gives  cases  to  prove 
it  quite  as  remarkable  as  those  referred  to  by  Dr. 
Headland,  and  thus  the  proof  that  iron  produces  the 
red  globules  directly  is  entirely  neutralized. 

Now  let  us  bring  into  one  view  the  different  parts  of 
that  wonderful,  and  to  us  incomprehensible  arrange- 
ment, made  ^'in  the  beginning,”  when  " God  created 
the  heavens  and  earth,”  by  which  all  the  solid  elements 
that  man  should  ever  require  should  be  placed  where, 
by  laws  ordained  for  that  purpose,  they  should  be  pul 
verized,  and  mixed,  and  scattered,  and  deposited,  and 
after  countless  ages  be  fitted  to  supply  all  his  physical 
wants.  And  then  ”the  Lord  God  formed  man  of  the 
dust  of  the  ground,”  and  instituted  laws  by  which  the 
elements  of  which  he  was  made,  and  which  would  ever 
afterwards  be  needed  for  his  repair  and  reconstruction, 
should  be  taken  up  in  the  sap  of  herbs,  and  grasses, 
and  fruit  trees,  and  deposited  in  seeds,  and  juices,  and 
grains,  and  fruits,  or  in  the  flesh  of  animals,  and  birds, 
and  fishes,  in  such  abundance  and  profusion  over  the 
face  of  the  earth,  that  anywhere,  and  in  all  circum- 
stances, to  the  end  of  time,  these  elements  should  be 
ready  at  his  hand,  requiring  only  the  use  of  his  intellect 
and  physical  faculties  to  procure  them  and  fit  them  for 
his  digestive  organs. 

With  this  arrangement,  so  perfectly  adapted  to  all 
the  exigencies  of  human  life,  so  clearly  revealed  as  the 
plan  of  Infinite  Wisdom,  is  it  reasonable  that  we  short- 


166 


BEEFSTEAK  AND  NITRIC  ACID, 


sighted  beings  should  presume  to  say  that  any  part  of 
it  is  unnecessary  or  unimportant,  and  that  elements  not 
prepared  in  accordance  with  it  are  just  as  good,  and 
this  on  no  other  ground  than  that  they  have  the  same 
chemical  character  as  organized  preparations  of  the 
same  elements  ? — while  the  evidence  before  us  is  abun- 
dant that  the  same  elements,  v/ith  the  same  chemical 
combinations,  are  wholesome  food  or  virulent  poisons 
as  they  are  or  are  not  organized  according  to  this  won- 
derful plan  ? Beefsteak  and  nitric  acid  both  owe  theii 
distinctive  characteristics  to  nitrogen ; but  one  is  whole- 
some nourishment,  the  other  a virulent  poison.  Sugar 
and  alcohol  contain  not  only  the  same  elements,  but  very 
nearly  the  same  chemical  combinations ; but  they  neither 
taste  alike,  or  smell  alike,  or,  if  taken  into  the  stomach, 
produce  any  effects  on  the  system  in  common.  In  short, 
one  is  good  carbonaceous  food,  the  other  is  a poison. 

What  folly,  then,  to  attempt  to  decide  on  the  influence 
of  any  substance  by  its  chemical  combination  ! Chemical 
must  always  obey  vital  law,  as  lower  law  the  higher. 

Note  to  Fifth  Edition,  March  12, 1869.  — In  a recent  lecture  before  the 
American  Institute,  Professor  Horsford  offered  the  following  extraordinary 
indorsement  of  his  claims  by  Baron  Liebig : “ It  is  certain  that  the  nutritive 
value  of  flour  will  be  increased  ten  per  cent,  by  your  phosphatic  bread  prep- 
aration, and  the  result  is  precisely  the  same  as  if  the  fertility  of  our  wheat  fields 
had  been  increased  by  that  amount!  ” There  is  no  claim  that  phosphatic  yeast 
powder  adds  any  element  of  nutrition  but  phosphorus,  and  the  average  amount 
of  all  the  phosphorus  in  unbolted  wheat  meal  is  less  than  two  per  cent.  Eight 
per  cent,  therefore  of  the  Professor’s  improvement  is  an  improvement  on  natural 
wheat.  It  is  easy  to  prove  that  not  a particle  of  nutriment  is  added  by  this  or 
any  other  chemical  process;  but  if  it  were,  what  would  be  gained?  Why  be 
at  such  pains  to  get  out  the  phosphorus,  and  then  at  such  pains  to  get  it  back 
^gain  ? Why  not  take  wheat  as  God  made  it  ? 


WATER. 


167 


WAT  EE. 


We  have  seen  that  mineralogy,  geology,  and  nat- 
ural history  all  corroborate  that  incomprehensible 
statement  of  the  word  of  God,  that  man  was  made 
from  the  ” dust  of  the  ground ; ” and  I have  endeav- 
ored to  delineate  also  the  great  law  of  nature  by  which 
the  solid  elements  of  the  human  system  are  constantly 
supplied ; and  we  have  seen  that  less  than  one  quarter 
of  the  weight  of  the  system  is  composed  of  solid  matter, 
more  than  three  quarters  being  water. 

We  come  now  to  consider  the  arrangement,  equally 
wonderful,  and  above  human  comprehension,  by  which 
water,  without  which  life  could  not  have  been  begun  or 
continued  for  a single  day,  should,  with  unfailing  cer- 
tainty, always  be  supplied.  And  here  we  shall  also 
find  in  the  book  of  nature  the  same  interesting  and 
complete  corroboration  of  the  word  of  God. 

Away  back  in  the  ages  of  eternity,  farther  than  the 
imagination  of  the  human  mind  can  reach,  — " in  the 
beginning,  God  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth,” 
the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  and  every  element  of  matter 
contained  in  them ; but  for  ages  the  condition  of  things 
was  such  that  all  we  could  understand,  and  therefore 
all  that  is  revealed,  is,  that  the  "earth  was  without  form 
and  void.” 


168  PKEADAMIT-E  ARRANGEMENT  FOR  WATER. 

The  first  intimation  we  have  of  the  particulars  of  its 
construction,  is  made  concerning  water,  in  this  state- 
ment : ''  And  the  Spirit  of  God  moved  upon  the  face 

of  the  waters.’’  And  this  is  all  we  know,  or  could  be 
made  to  understand,  and  therefore  is  all  the  explana- 
tion given  till  the  first  day,  or  period,  when  "God  said. 
Let  there  be  light,  and  there  was  light.”  This,  too, 
being  incomprehensible  to  the  human  mind,  unenlight- 
ened by  scientific  developments,  is  not  explained. 

In  the  description  of  the  second  day,  or  period,  we 
begin  to  get  a glimpse  of  the  condition  of  things. 
" And  God  made  the  firmament,  and  divided  the  waters 
which  were  under  the  firmament  from  the  waters  which 
were  above  the  firmament.”  "In  the  beginning,”  the 
earth  was  made  of  molten  rocks  : this  is  clearly  under- 
stood by  the  condition  in  which  we  find  it ; and  of 
course  the  water  existed  only  in  a state  of  vapor,  or  in 
gaseous  elements.  To  " divide  the  waters  from  under 
the  firmament  from  the  waters  above  the  firmament,” 
was,  therefore,  to  cool  the  outside  and  form  a crust  of 
the  earth,  so  that  the  vapor  could  be  condensed  into 
water,  and  thus  be  separated  from  the  vapors  in  the 
regions  above  the  earth.  The  second  day,  or  period, 
seems,  therefore,  to  have  been  devoted  to  a preparation 
of  the  supply  of  water  for  man,  who  was  not  to  be  cre- 
ated till  the  sixth  day,  or  period,  when  all  necessary 
preparations  for  him  should  be  completed. 

The  third  period  seems  to  have  been  devoted  to  the 
same  work  of  perfecting  an  arrangement  for  the  supply 
of  water.  "And  God  said.  Let  the  waters  under  the 


169 


''let  the  dry  land  appear.” 

heaven  be  gathered  together  in  one  place,  and  let  the 
dry  land  appear.”  How  this  was  accomplished  can 
now  be  read  much  more  clearly  in  the  " book  of  na- 
ture ” than  in  the  written  word. 

The  internal  fires  of  the  earth,  pent  up  as  they  were 
by  the  solid  crust  that  enclosed  •them,  began,  in  their 
efforts  to  escape,  to  throw  up  the  surface  of  the  earth 
into  ridges,  and  hills,  and  mountains,  and  of  course  the 
waters  retired  from  these  ridges,  and  hills,  and  moun- 
tains, and  they  became  dry  land ; and  one  third  of  the 
earth  being  thus  raised,  the  other  two  thirds  were  of 
course  depressed,  and  there  the  waters  gathered  into 
oceans,  and  seas,  and  lakes  : and  thus  was  completed 
the  third  period  of  preparation  for  supplying  man  with 
water. 

That  the  mountains  were  once  raised  from  level 
layers,  or  strata,  which  had  previously  for  ages  been 
covered  with  water,  there  is  not  in  the  mind  of  any 
reflecting  man,  who  knows  the  facts,  a shadow  of 
doubt.  Look  into  any  cave,  or  excavation,  or  mine, 
in  any  mountain  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  we  can 
see  that  the  strata  of  different  materials,  such  as  coal, 
slate,  &c.,  which  must  have  been  formed  under  water, 
and  of  course  on  a level,  have  been  pushed  up  from  a 
level  to  the  position  in  which  they  are  now  seen,  by 
some  power  from  beneath,  as  if  the  wet  leaves  of  a 
pamphlet  had  been  pushed  up  into  an  inverted  cup, 
and  there  left  to  dry.  Finding  such  a semi-globular 
mass  of  printed  matter  afterwards,  and  separating  these 
leaves,  it  could  be  seen  that  they  once  were  on  a level, 


170 


THE  FOURTH  PERIOD  OF  CREATION. 


and  that  in  that  position  the  words  must  have  been  im- 
printed on  them.  In  a similar  manner  can  be  seen,  in 
the  leaves  or  strata  of  sandstone,  evidence,  in  the  posi- 
tion of  the  strata,  and  in  the  shells  and  other  materials 
imbedded  in  them,  evidence  unmistakable  that  these 
strata  were  for  ages  under  water,  and  of  course  on  a 
level,  and  had  been  pushed  up  to  their  present  position, 
and  there  left  to  dry  and  consolidate. 

Thus  was  so  far  accomplished  the  work  of  supplying 
water  for  man,  that  some  vegetation  could  grow ; and 
before  the  close  of  the  third  period  we  find  ” the  herb 
yielding  seed  after  his  kind,  and  the  tree  yielding  fruit, 
whose  seed  was  in  itself  after  his  kind.”  But  the  earth 
was  not  yet  ready  for  man,  for  mists  and  clouds  in  the 
heavens  had  not  yet  dispersed,  so  that  the  sun  had  ever 
shone,  or  even  penetrated  but  imperfectly  the  dark- 
ness that  shrouded  the  earth,  ” for  the  Lord  God  had 
not  caused  it  to  rain  on  the  earth,  but  there  went  up  a 
mist  from  the  earth,  and  watered  the  whole  face  of  the 
ground.” 

But  the  fourth  period  of  creation  seems  to  have  been 
devoted  to  clearing  off  the  mists  from  the  face  of  the 
earth,  so  that  the  rays  of  the  sun  could  penetrate 
through  them,  and  divide  the  day  from  the  night;  and 
then  for  the  first  time  appeared  the  sun  and  the  moon 
in  the  revelating  vision  to  Moses,  as  if  they  had  just 
been  created  and  set  there,  ” the  greater  light  to  rule 
the  day,  and  the  lesser  light  to  rule  the  night ; ” and  as 
if  then  "He  made  the  stars  also,”  their  light  having 
never  before  reached  the  earth.  Then  came  the  fifth 


AREANGEMENT  FOR  WATER  PERFECTED.  171 


period,  when  the  sun,  having  cleared  off  the  mists  and 
clouds  from  the  earth,  a system  of  distillation  could  be 
commenced  from  the  surface  of  the  ocean  and  the  earth, 
and  pure  water  be  taken  up  to  be  condensed,  and  fall 
in  dews  and  rains,  and  be  collected  into  rivulets,  and 
streams,  and  rivers,  and  the  great  system  be  inaugu- 
rated which  to  the  end  of  time  shall  circulate  the  waters 
from  the  ocean  to  the  air  and  from  the  air  to  the  ocean, 
supplying  men,  and  animals,  and  the  minutest  insect, 
without  cessation,  with  this  necessary  element. 

Then,  and  not  till  then,  was  the  earth  prepared  for 
animals,  whose  life  depends  on  a constant  supply  of 
water  for  the  circulation  of  the  food,  for  perspiration, 
and  the  necessary  secretions ; and  not  till  then  were 
created  "every  living  creature  that  moveth,”  "and 
every  winged  fowl  after  his  kind,”  that  could  in  toy 
way  contribute  to  the  support  or  comfort  of  man. 
And  then,  everything  being  made  ready,  God  said, 
using  for  the  first  time  the  plural  pronoun,  as  if  the 
councils  of  heaven  were  called  for  the  crowning  work 
of  creation,  " Let  us  make  man  in  our  image,  after  our 
likeness ; and  let  them  have  dominion  over  the  fish  of 
the  sea,  and  over  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  over  the 
cattle,  and  over  all  the  earth,  and  over  every  creeping 
thing  that  creepeth  on  the  earth.” 

Let  us  now  review  the  history  of  this  preparation 
for  the  advent  of  man,  and  notice  the  perfect  har- 
mony between  the  revelation  to  us  through  Moses, 
twenty-five  hundred  years  after  the  work  was  finished, 
and  the  revelation  to  us  in  the  mountains,  and  rocks, 


172 


THE  REVELATION  TO  MOSES. 


and  rivers,  and  the  chemical  character  of  the  elements 
that  compose  them. 

This  harmony  is  the  more  striking  when  we  consider 
that  Moses  knew  but  little  of  astronomy,  mineralogy, 
geology,  or  chemistry,  as  is  evident  from  his  descrip- 
tions, in  all  of  which  he  gives  us  not  the  actual  condi- 
tion of  things,  or  the  actual  development  of  events,  but 
only  a description  of  things  and  events  as  they  appeared 
to  him,  or  as  by  a kind  of  panoramic  vision  they  were 
revealed,  to  be  described  in  his  own  words. 

Thus,  in  his  description  of  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars, 
as  they  appeared  when  the  mists  had  cleared  off  so  as 
to  reveal  them,  as  if  they  were  then  created,  he  says, 
” And  God  made  two  great  lights,  the  greater  to  j;ule 
the  day,  and  the  lesser  to  rule  the  night ; ” " and  he 
made  the  stars  also.”  " And  God  set  them  in  the 
firmament  of  the  heavens  to  give  light  upon  the  earth.” 
This  was  on  the  fourth  day,  but  on  the  second  day,  he 
says,  "God  said.  Let  there  be  light;”  and  this  was 
when  " God  moved  upon  the  face  of  the  waters,”  and 
the  mists  were  so  far  condensed  that  light  from  the  sun 
began  to  shine  through  them.  It  is  evident,  therefore, 
that  Moses  wrote  in  his  own  language  a description  of 
appearances,  as  revealed  by  a kind  of  panorama,  as 
suggested  by  Hugh  Miller  in  " The  Testimony  of  the 
Rocks.” 

First,  he  saw  the  earth,  so  enshrouded  in  mists  that 
not  a ray  of  light  could  penetrate  to  its  surface,  and  it 
appeared  "without  form  and  void;”  then,  next,  as  it 
appeared  when  the  mists  were  partly  condensed  into 


THE  EEVELATION  TO  MOSES. 


173 


water,  so  as  to  let  in  a little  light ; then,  as  the  moun- 
tains and  hills  were  raised,  and  the  waters  settled  into 
seas  and  oceans  ; and  finally,  when  the  arrangement 
was  fully  perfected,  so  that  every  blade  of  grass,  and 
every  little  insect  should  be  sure  of  a supply  of  water, 
and  the  earth  was  fully  prepared  for  the  advent  of 
man,  for  whom  all  this  preparation  was  made.  Now, 
astronomy,  geology,  and  chemistry  all  demonstrate 
that  all  that  was  thus  revealed  to  the  vision  of  Moses, 
and  all  he  describes  as  appearances,  were  in  perfect 
accordance  with,  though  not  a revelation  of,  scientific 
truth.  The  earth  must  have  been  enshrouded  in  dark- 
ness, for  water  cannot  exist  at  a temperature  above 
212^  ; and  of  course  a temperature  sufficiently  high  to 
melt  the  rocks  must  have  driven  all  the  water  into 
vapor  around  the  earth.  Now,  if  the  little  fog  which 
gathers  over  a city,  as  it  sometimes  does  over  the  city 
of  London,  can  so  obstruct  the  light  as  to  leave  the 
inhabitants  groping  in  darkness,  what  must  have  been 
the  darkness  when  the  whole  ocean  was  in  vapor  around 
the  earth? 

And  as  the  surface  of  the  earth  cooled,  and  the  vapor 
C'jndensed,  after  a while  the  light  of  the  sun  must  have 
begun  to  shine  through,  according  to  the  description 
of  the  first  day,  and  there  would  be  a manifest  divis- 
ion between  the  water  and  the  fog,  described  as  the 
firmament  dividing  the  waters  below  from  the  waters 
above,  which  constituted  the  work  of  the  second  day. 
And  when  the  hills  and  the  mountains  were  raised,  as 
geology  teaches  they  were  raised,  to  form  the  dry  land 


174  OPINION  OF  CHRISTIAN  PHILOSOPHERS. 


of  every  continent,  then  the  waters  must  necessarily 
have  been  gathered  together  in  one  place.’’  The  sun 
must  have  been  in  the  heavens  when  "darkness  was 
upon  the  face  of  the  earth,”  but  it  could  not  "divide  the 
day  from  the  night,”  and  " be  for  signs  and  for  seasons, 
and  for  days  and  for  years,”  till  the  mists  should  have 
been  dispersed  so  that  its  light  should  shine  on  the 
earth.  And  then,  to  complete  the  harmony  of  the 
testimony  of  Moses  and  the  testimony  of  nature,  in  the 
chemical  composition  of  plants  and  animals,  we  find  a 
description  of  the  earth  as  being  covered  with  vegeta- 
tion, and  the  animals  as  being  created,  which  was  to 
finish  the  preparation  of  the  earth  for  man,  just  when 
the  arrangement  was  completed  by  which  vegetation 
and  animals  could  be  perpetually  supplied  with  water. 
If,  then,  we  take  the  view  of  Dr.  Kurtz,  that  the 
narrative  of  Moses  was  "simply  prophecy  described 
backwards,”  and  of  Chalmers,  Pye  Smith,  and  Hugh 
Miller,  and  other  Christian  philosophers,  "that  the 
Mosaic  account  of  creation  can  only  be  regarded  as  a 
record  of  appearances,”  we  find  in  the  record  of  Moses 
respecting  the  formation  of  water,  and  the  arrangements 
for  its  perpetual  supply,  and  in  the  records  of  geology 
and  chemistry,  the  most  perfect  harmony  and  consis- 
tency. That  this  view  is  true,  not  only  of  the  revela- 
tions of  Moses  but  of  all  Old  Testament  revelations, 
is  now  almost  universally  admitted  by  all  Christian 
philosophers ; and,  being  admitted,  there  is  no  longer 
among  them  the  least  anxiety  lest  the  truth  of  the  Bible 
should  be  overturned  or  weakened.  But  until  this  was 


A REVELATION  OF  APPEARANCES. 


175 


understood,  there  was  a constant  jealousy  lest  some 
astronomer  or  geologist  should  discover  some  discre- 
pancy between  the  written  word  of  God  and  the  book 
of  nature.  Thus,  when  Galileo  announced  the  discov- 
ery through  his  telescope  that  the  earth  revolved  around 
the  sun,  the  Christian  philosophers  of  his  day,  with 
that  strange  perversion  of  intellect  by  prejudices  which 
always  characterized  the  human  mind,  demanded  as 
security  for  their  precious  Bible  that  he  should  retract 
his  opinion,  and  let  the  sun  go  on  its  revolutions 
around  the  earth,  and  even  demanded  that  he  should 
do  so  on  pain  of  death.  Not  one  of  them  dared  to 
look  into  the  telescope,  lest  they  might  be  convinced 
of  the  revolution  of  the  earth ; for  if  the  earth  did  re- 
volve, then  Joshua’s  testimony  was  not  true.  Joshua 
said,  when  the  sun  stood  still  in  the  midst  of  the 
heavens,  and  did  not  go  down  about  a whole  day,”  . . . 
"there  was  no  day  like  that  before  it  or  after  it,”  Gal- 
ileo said  the  sun  had  always  stood  still,  and  the  revo- 
lution of  the  earth  divided  the  day  from  the  night ; and 
so  determined  were  these  philosophers  to  preserve  the 
Bible  from  harm,  and  so  darkened  were  the  minds  of 
these  the  best  men  of  the  age,  that  they  deliberately 
concluded  to  take  his  life  as  a choice  of  evils,  — the  life 
of  one  man,  even  one  of  the  best  of  men,  being  consid- 
ered of  little  value  compared  with  the  value  of  the 
precious  word  of  God.  But  now  that  it  is  under- 
stood that  Joshua  only  described  a miraculous  event, 
as  it  appeared  to  him,  there  is  no  difficulty  on  that 


4.76  ''good’s  book  of  nature.” 

point  in  the  mind  of  any  intelligent  Christian,  whether 
philosopher  or  not. 

In  our  day,  also,  we  have  seen  the  jealousy  awakened 
among  intelligent  Christian  men,  and  even  philoso- 
phers, upon  the  statement  being  made  that  the  earth, 
according  to  its  geological  construction,  could  not  have 
been  formed  in  a single  week.  All  Christendom  was 
thrown  into  alarm  and  excitement  again,  lest  the  Bible 
might  be  discredited,  and  many  an  anathema  was 
heaped  on  the  names  of  good  men  who  dared  to 
interpret  the  Bible  by  the  revelations  of  Nature.  I 
remember,  as  if  it  were  but  yesterday,  though  now  forty- 
five  years  since,  the  day  and  the  room  in  which  I began 
to  read  the  then  recently  published  ” Book  of  Nature,” 
by  J.  Mason  Good,  in  which  the  idea  first  struck  my 
mind  that  the  six  days  of  creation,  as  recorded  by  Moses, 
really  meant  six  periods,  or  ages,  of  indefinite  and 
inconceivable  length.  The  idea  did  literally  strike  my 
mind  with  such  force  as  to  produce  an  effect  almost 
stunning ; and  for  that  day  I read  not  another  word  in 
the  book,  but  gave  up  my  mind  to  the  strange  reveries 
which  it  excited.  I trembled  lest  the  Bible  should  fall 
under  such  a plausible  statement  of  geological  revela- 
tion ; but,  looking  into  the  subject,  I found  that  the 
record  of  Moses  and  Joshua  must  be  understood  as  a 
record  of  appearances  ; and  since  then  I have  felt  no 
apprehensions  for  the  revelations  of  the  Bible,  and  no 
difficulty  in  reconciling  them  with  the  revelations  of 
geology  or  chemistry. 


A CHEMICO-VITAL  PROCESS. 


177 


Uses  of  Water  in  the  Human  System. 

By  the  table  of  analysis  of  the  human  body,  we  see 
that  three  fourths  of  its  weight  consists  in  water.  With- 
out water  no  vital  process  could  be  carried  on  for  a 
single  moment.  The  blood  must  be  liquid  or  it  could 
not  circulate,  and  not  circulating,  no  elements  could  be 
supplied,  and  none  could  be  removed ; and  then  oxygen 
and  hydrogen  are  very  important  elements  in  the  com- 
position of  the  organs  as  well  as  the  blood.  And  thus 
water  occupies  a position  in  the  economy  of  the  system 
which  fully  explains  the  importance  which  seems  to  be 
attached  to  it  in  nature,  rendering  it  necessary  to  insti- 
tute that  complicated  arrangement  for  its  production, 
circulation,  and  minute  distribution  over  the  face  of  the 
earth  which  we  have  been  considering. 

But  one  of  the  most  important,  and  to  me  the  most 
interesting  purposes  subserved  by  water,  is  that  chemico- 
vital  process  by  w^hich  the  temperature  of  the  body  is 
regulated  so  as,  under  all  circumstances  and  external 
temperatures  to  which  it  can  be  exposed,  internally  to 
remain  of  the  same  temperature.  That  certainly  is  an 
admirable  adjustment  of  vital  and  chemical  principles, 
which,  without  regard  to  external  clothing,  or  external 
temperature,  or  the  kind  of  food  taken,  or  the  amount 
of  exercise  used,  shall  keep  the  internal  temperature  at 
98^,  so  that  in  the  same  individual,  under  all  ordinary 
circumstances  in  health,  it  will  not  vary  from  that  point 
more  than  one  or  two  degrees,  in  summer  or  winter,  at 
rest  or  in  violent  exercise. 

12 


178 


A CHEMICAL  LAW. 


In  a series  of  experiments  on  one  hundred  and  four- 
teen individuals,  of  both  sexes,  of  different  ages,  among 
various  races,  in  different  latitudes,  and  under  various 
temperatures.  Dr.  J.  Davy  found  that  a thermometer 
placed  under  the  tongue  indicated  a temperature  vary- 
ing only  from  96.5  to  102  — only  5J^  ; and  the  extremes 
of  these  cases  were  found  very  rarely,  and  always  in 
individuals  of  great  peculiarities  of  constitution. 

The  process  by  which  this  adjustment  of  temperature 
is  made,  as  I have  said,  is  partly  vital  and  partly  chemi- 
cal. That  part  which  is  vital  I will  not  attempt  to  ex- 
plain ; but  the  chemical  process  is  in  accordance  with  a 
law  instituted  ''  in  the  beginning,’’  and  instituted  espe- 
cially for  this  very  purpose  (if  we  believe  that  the  earth 
was  made  for  man,  and  all  the  laws  which  govern  it). 
This  law  is  easily  understood,  and  is  worthy  of  par- 
ticular consideration. 

If  a solid  is  changed  into  a liquid,  or  a liquid  into  a 
gas,  heat  is  required,  which  is  taken  from  surrounding 
objects  to  supply  it.  If  you  place  a pot  of  cream 
within  a vessel,  in  which  it  will  be  surrounded  by  ice 
and  salt,  both  of  which  being  solid,  the  action  of  the 
salt  on  the  ice  changes  it  into  water,  which,  requiring 
more  heat,  takes  it  from  the  cream,  which  is  the  nearest 
object,  and  freezes  it  into  ice-cream. 

If  you  allow  moist  clothing  to  remain  touching  the 
surface  of  the  body,  the  moisture,  by  the  heat  of  the 
body,  or  by  the  atmosphere,  is  changed  into  vapor, 
produces  a dangerous  sensation  of  cold.  I have 
often  amused  the  class  to  whom  I was  lecturing  by  an 


COLD  PKODUCED  BY  EVAPORATION. 


179 


application  of  this  law,  in  freezing  water  in  a warm 
lecture-room.  Take  two  watch  crystals,  and  put  in 
one  a little  water,  and  in  the  other  a little  ether,  which 
being  light,  boils  at  the  temperature  of  the  atmosphere 
when  the  pressure  is  taken  off.  Put  these  together, 
under  an  air-pump,  and  take  off  the  pressure : the 
ether  will  boil,  and  give  off  vapor,  which,  abstracting 
the  heat  from  the  water,  causes  it  to  freeze ; so  that  in 
the  same  temperature  we  have  the  processes  of  boiling 
and  freezing  at  the  same  time. 

This  principle  is  used  in  warm  climates  in  cooling 
water  and  other  drink.  A porous  jug,  called  a monkey^ 
or  a bottle  with  a wet  cloth  around  it,  is  always  seen 
hanging  in  the  window  where  the  breeze  is  drawing 
through,  and  the  evaporation  from  the  surface  of  the 
jug  or  bottle  abstracts  the  heat  from  the  water  within ; 
and  I have  drank  it  as  cool  as  was  desirable,  with  the 
sun  directly  overhead. 

We  have  seen  also  the  operation  of  this  principle  in 
heating  and  boiling  water.  Apply  heat  to  water,  and 
its  temperature  increases  till  it  comes  up  to  212^  ; then 
a violent  agitation  commences,  and  steam  is  evolved* 
more  or  less  rapidly  in  proportion  to  the  heat  applied ; 
and  this  evolution  keeps  the  water  at  the  same  tem- 
perature, so  that  no  amount  of  heat  in  the  open  air  can 
raise  the  temperature  above  212^. 

And  this  is  the  principle  which  regulates  the  tem- 
perature of  the  human  system,  and  keeps  it  at  98^, 
regulated  by  the  operation  of  a vital  law  which  we  do 
not  understand,  and  the  evaporation  of  water,  as  before 


180  POWER  TO  RESIST  THE  EFFECTS  OF  HEAT. 

described,  so  as  to  keep  the  internal  parts  of  the  body 
at  98^5  while  water,  under  the  regulation  of  physical 
law  alone,  is  kept,  when  boiling,  at  212^* 

By  this  law  all  animals  can,  to  some  extent,  adjust 
themselves  to  different  temperatures ; but  each  species, 
being  intended  to  occupy  only  a limited  range  of  heat 
and  cold,  each  being  limited  to  a few  degrees  of  lati- 
tude, have  not  the  necessity  for  that  power  to  a very 
great  extent.  But  man,  who  is  destined  to  have  domin- 
ion over  all  animals  in  all  latitudes,  must  have  power 
to  adapt  himself  to  a great  range  of  temperature.  In 
many  parts  of  the  tropical  zone,  the  thermometer  rises 
every  day,  through  a large  portion  of  the  year,  to  110®, 
and  in  British  India  it  is  occasionally  recorded  at  130®  ; 
while  the  arctic  voyagers  frequently  record  it  as  low  as 
55®  below,  and  Captain  Franklin  at  58®,  and  one  record 
by  Captain  Back  is  made  as  low  as  70®  ; making  a range 
of  temperature  in  which  men  live  from  130®  above  to 
70®  below  — two  hundred  degrees. 

Workmen  in  furnaces  are  accustomed,  in  some  places, 
to  enter  a room  where  the  floor  is  red  hot,  and  the 
temperature  of  the  air  stands  at  350®  ; and  the  ” Fire 
King  ” Chabert  was  in  the  habit  of  entering  an  oven, 
at  a temperature  of  from  400®  to  600® ; and  it  is  not 
an  uncommon  feat  to  take  beefsteak  into  an  oven  and 
wait  for  it  to  be  cooked ; indeed,  the  temperature  which 
Chabert  was  accustomed  to  endure  would  crisp  a steak 
to  charcoal. 

This  almost  miraculous  power  of  resisting  the  effects 
of  heat  is  evidently  not  purely  chemical,  as  is  shown 


EFFECTS  OF  COLD  ON  THE  HEALTH. 


181 


by  the  different  effects  of  the  same  temperature  on  the 
living  and  dead  muscle ; but  that  chemical  law  comes 
into  play  in  this  power  to  sustain  extraordinary  heat, 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  evaporation  of  water  on 
the  surface  of  the  body  is  in  proportion  to  the  degree 
of  heat  to  which  it  is  exposed,  and  of  course  the  heat 
is  evolved  from  the  body  according  to  chemical  laws. 
It  is,  therefore,  a power  partly  chemical  and  partly 
vital,  — great  changes  can  therefore  be  endured  with 
impunity  only  by  persons  with  good  vital  powers  and 
in  good  health.  Young  children  suffer  greatly  by 
changes  of  temperature,  and  many  an  infant  is  killed 
by  treatment  which  would  be  safe  at  maturity,  the 
nurses  or  mothers  exposing  them  to  the  influence  of 
cold  air  or  cold  water,  not  knowing  their  want  of 
power  to  resist  the  cold,  or  perhaps  having  the  idea 
that  exposure  will  render  them  tough. 

Old  people  also  suffer  from  exposure  to  changes,  and 
statistics  show  that  from  the  age  of  eighty  and  upwards 
more  than  twice  as  many  die  in  January  and  February 
as  in  July  and  August;  indeed,  the  mortality  of  all 
ages  is  greater  in  winter  than  in  summer. 

M.  Quetelet  gives,  as  the  results  of  a large  number 
of  statistical  observations  in  Brussels,  the  following 
table  of  the  mean  monthly  mortality  at  different  ages, 
reckoning  the  average  of  the  whole  year  at  one  hun- 
dred per  month : — 


182 


MONTHLY  MORTALITY. 


Mean  Monthly  Mortality  in  Brussels. 


First 

Month. 

2 to  3 
Years. 

8 to  12 
Years. 

25  to  30 
Years. 

50  to  60 
Years. 

90  Years 
and  above 

January, 

139 

122 

108 

105 

130 

158 

February, 

128 

113 

106 

104 

122 

148 

March, 

121 

130 

127 

111 

111 

125 

April, 

102 

127 

134 

106 

102 

96 

May, 

93 

112 

121 

102 

93 

84 

June, 

83 

94 

99 

102 

85 

75 

July, 

78 

82 

88 

91 

77 

64 

August, 

79 

73 

82 

96 

85 

66 

September, 

86 

76 

81 

95 

89 

76 

October, 

91 

78 

76 

93 

90 

74 

November, 

93 

91 

80 

97 

100 

103 

December, 

109 

101 

96 

97 

115 

129 

This  difference  in  the  rate  of  mortality  in  summer 
and  winter  physiologists  have  generally  supposed  to 
depend  on  the  changes  of  temperature  and  the  want 
of  power  to  resist  them,  especially  in  infants  and  old 
people,  and  to  a great  extent  this  explanation  is  un- 
doubtedly correct ; but  experiments  to  which  I have  else- 
where referred,  made  in  the  Foundling  Hospital  and 
in  the  Zoological  Garden  of  London,  thirty-live  years 
^go,  by  which  the  length  of  life  of  infants  and  mon- 
keys were  increased  one  hundred  per  cent,  in  two  years, 
by  a new  system  of  ventilation,  would  seem  to  indicate 


POWER  TO  RESIST  THE  EFFECTS  OF  COLD.  183 

another  reason  for  the  difference  of  mortality  in  infants 
and  old  people  in  summer  and  winter.  Probably  in 
Brussels,  where  the  winters  are  long  and  cold,  as  a 
matter  of  economy  in  heat  the  houses  are  not  well  ven- 
tilated, and  infants  and  old  people,  not  being  able  to  go 
out,  are  exposed  constantly  to  impure  air,  which  would 
help  to  account  for  the  facts  presented  in  M.  Quetelet’s 
bill  of  mortality.  In  July  and  August  old  men  and 
infants  breathe  pure  out-of-door  air ; in  J anuary  and 
February  that  luxury  perhaps  cannot  be  afforded. 

There  is,  however,  no  doubt  that  the  power  of  gen- 
erating heat  and  of  resisting  cold  is  very  different  at 
different  ages ; and  this  depends  entirely  on  the  degree 
of  activity.  The  young  Guinea  pig,  which  can  run 
about  and  pick  up  food  for  itself  as  soon  as  it  is  born, 
is  no  longer  dependent  on  its  mother  for  heat,  or  the 
power  of  resisting  the  effects  of  cold ; but  young  dogs, 
cats,  and  rabbits,  which  are  born  blind,  do  not  for  some 
weeks  acquire  the  power  of  resisting  the  effects  of  cold, 
and  would  die  but  for  the  warmth  imparted  by  the 
mother.  The  infant  is  the  most  helpless  of  all  ani- 
mals, and  is  longest  in  arriving  at  maturity  sufficient 
to  resist  the  cold  air,  and  it  cannot  be  too  carefully 
protected,  unless  in  our  care  to  protect  it  from  cold  we 
deprive  it  of  pure  air,  which  is  quite  as  essential  as  a 
regular  temperature. 

Demand  for  Water  in  the  Human  System. 


Besides'  the  great  demand  for  water,  especially  in 
warm  weather,  for  the  purpose  of  evolving  heat,  as  I 


184 


AMOUNT  OF  WATER  EXCRETED. 


have  described,  it  is  wanted  in  large  quantities  to 
supply  the  excretions,  and  thus  carry  off  effete  matter 
from  the  system.  Three  quarters  of  the  system  is 
water ; and  if  the  waste  of  water  were  no  more  rapid 
than  that  of  the  solids,  we  should  require  half  a gallon 
in  a day,  the  waste  of  solids  being  reckoned  at  nearly 
two  pounds,  but  the  waste  of  water  in  warm  weather 
and  in  active  exercise  is  many  times  greater  than  the 
waste  of  the  solids. 

The  amount  of  water  excreted  by  the  kidneys  varies, 
being  to  some  extent  in  the  inverse  proportion  to  the 
excretions  from  the  skin.  In  summer  it  is  less  than  in 
winter ; the  quantity,  therefore,  excreted  in  twenty-four 
hours  cannot  be  exactly  ascertained.  It  is  estimated  at 
about  thirty  ounces  in  summer,  and  forty  ounces  in 
winter,  for  a person  who  only  drinks  what  nature 
requires ; but  many  persons  drink,  from  mere  habit, 
twice  as  much  as  is  needed,  which  must  of  course  pass 
off  in  excretions.  From  the  skin  is  excreted,  in  ordi- 
nary circumstances,  from  one  pound  and  three  fourths 
to  five  pounds  in  twenty-four  hours,  and  in  extraordi- 
nary circumstances,  as  in  the  case  of  glass-blowers, 
furnace  workmen,  &c.,  it  has  amounted  to  sixteen  or 
twenty  pounds.  More  than  half  as  much  as  the  ordi- 
nary excretions  from  the  skin  is  also  excreted  from  the 
lungs,  besides  an  indefinite  and  very  variable  amount 
from  the  bowels.  We  require,  therefore,  from  four  to 
twelve  pounds  of  water  daily  to  keep  all  the  organs  and 
functions  in  healthy  working  order. 


WATEK  IN  THE  HUMAN  SYSTEM. 


185 


Importance  of  Using  Pure  Water. 

Water,  to  perform  perfectly  the  duties  assigned  it  in 
the  human  economy,  must  be  perfectly  pure ; nothing 
but  oxygen  and  hydrogen  combined  can  pass  through 
the  system  to  accomplish  the  various  purposes  which  I 
have  described,  and  every  element  combined  with  them 
in  water  must  be  disposed  of  by  the  excretories,  and 
must  be  a source  of  embarrassment  and  disease  to  the 
delicate  organs  whose  duty  it  is  to  expel  all  intruding 
elements  from  the  system.  Our  study,  therefore, 
should  be  to  get  water  as  pure  as  possible.  Nature 
has  provided,  in  two  ways,  never-failing  sources  of 
supply  of  pure  water,  — in  the  juices  of  all  natural 
food,  animal  or  vegetable,  and  in  the  condensation  of 
vapor  in  the  atmosphere.  By  comparing  the  analysis 
of  the  human  body  with  that  of  diiferent  articles  of 
food,  we  shall  be  interested  to  find  on  an  average  as 
much  water  in  the  different  articles  in  their  natural 
state  as  in  the  system,  and  that  to  compensate  for 
the  increased  expenditure  of  water  in  summer,  the 
amount  of  water  in  the  fruits  and  vegetables  intended 
for  summer  food  is  vastly  greater  than  is  found  in  the 
grains  and  fat  meats  that  are  intended  for  winter.  The 
average  amount  of  water  in  fruits,  and  vegetables,  and 
berries,  is  more  than  ninety  per  cent.,  while  seal  oil, 
of  which  an  Esquimaux  will  eat  a gallon  in  a day, 
contains  no  w^ater  at  all.  This  interesting  provision 
df  nature  will  be  impressed  on  our  minds  by  bringing 


186 


WATER  IN  FOOD. 


together  the  different  articles  of  food,  with  the  amount 
of  water  in  each,  as  in  the  following  table,  from  analy- 
ses already  given : — 


Quantities  of  Water  in  One  Hundred  Pounds  of 
Vegetable  Food. 


Indian  meal. 

Pounds. 

. 14 

Potatoes,  . 

Pounds. 

. 75 

Rye,  . . 

. 13 

Carrots, 

. 86 

Peas, 

. 14 

Turnips, 

00 

Rice, 

. 13 

Parsnips,  . 

. 79 

Beans,  . 

. 14 

Mangel-wurzel, 

. 85 

Lentils, 

.^14 

Cabbage,  . 

. 92 

Buckwheat, 

. "14 

Apricot, 

. 75 

Barley, 

. 14 

Green  Gage,  . 

. 71 

Oatmeal, 

. 13 

Peach,  . . . 

. 80 

Oyster, 

GO 

Cherries, 

. 75 

Egg,  . . 

. 67 

Gooseberries,  . 

. 81 

Milk,  . . 

. 87 

Cucumber, 

. 97 

Beef  without  fat,  . 

. 74 

Apples, 

. 84 

Veal,  ‘‘ 

. 75 

Pears,  . 

00 

Mutton,  ‘‘ 

. 71 

Butter,  . 

None. 

Pork,  ‘‘ 

. 76 

Lard, 

44 

Chicken,  “ 

. 73 

Almond  oil. 

44 

Codfish, 

. 79 

Olive  oil,  . 

44 

Haddock,  . 

GO 

Mutton  suet,  . 

44 

Fat  of  all  meats. 

44 

From  the  above  table  it  will  be  seen  that  five  sixths 


CAN  WATEH  BE  SUPPLIED  IN  FOOD?  187 

of  tlie  food  usually  eaten  consists  of  water ; and  there- 
fore, using  an  average  amount  of  vegetable  food,  we 
get  more  water  than  the  natural  proportion  of  that  ele- 
ment in  the  human  system.  And  if  our  liquid  excre- 
tions were  no  greater  in  proportion  than  the  solid,  we 
should  need  no  drink.  Noticing  this  fact,  some  of  our 
ultra  dietetic  reformers  have  inferred  that  the  intention 
of  Nature  was  that  water  should  be  supplied  through 
food  alone ; and  Alcott  succeeded  in  abstaining  entirely 
for  a whole  year  from  all  kinds  of  liquids  except  such 
as  were  furnished  in  natural  food,  as  milk,  vegetables, 
fruits,  &c. ; but  I often  thought,  when  seeing  him 
moping  about  the  streets,  looking  like  a walking 
mummy,  that  his  personal  appearance  did  not  very 
highly  recommend  his  principles.  He  said,  however, 
that  he  did  not  experience  the  sensation  of  thirst  more 
than  two  or  three  times,  and  that  after  copious  perspi- 
ration from  working  in  hot  weather.  His  food  was 
entirely  vegetable,  and  he  ate  six  pounds  in  a day, 
which  would  give  him  five  pounds  of  fluid  daily,  — an 
amount,  it  would  seem,  abundantly  sufficient  for  such 
a desiccated  specimen  of  humanity.  — He  needed  more 
nutriment  rather  than  more  water,  his  gastronomic 
capacity  not  being  sufficient  to  c'ontain,  in  such  food, 
the  requisite  amount  of  nutrition. 

But  that  Nature  intended  partially  to  supply  water 
to  the  system  through  the  medium  of  food,  is  evident 
from  the  fact  to  which  I have  before  alluded,  that  food 
produced  in  warm  climates,  and  intended  for  warm 
weather,  when  water  is  most  needed  to  supply  the 


188 


WATEEED  MILK. 


excretions,  contains  a much  larger  proportion  of  water 
than  food  intended  for  cold  climates  and  cold  weather. 
This  is  seen  in  the  above  table,  the  green  vegetables 
and  fruits  showing  from  eighty  to  ninety-seven  per 
cent,  of  water,  while  the  fat  of  all  animals  contains 
none.  Still,  there  are  very  few  animals,  whatever 
their  food  may  be,  who  do  not  drink  water.  Mice, 
quails,  parrots,  and  a few  other  birds  and  quadrupeds, 
are  said  to  drink  no  water ; but  cattle,  which  live  or. 
grass  alone,  containing  more  than  ninety  per  cent,  of 
water,  still  require  drink,  and  perish  without  it ; which 
to  me  is  proof  positive  that  food  was  not  intended  to 
supply  all  the  water  needed  in  the  system. 

It  is,  however,  best  to  use  as  far  as  practicable  food 
containing  water,  especially  in  places  where  pure  water 
cannot  be  obtained,  as  water  combined  in  natural  food 
is  absolutely  pure,  and  perceptibly  different  from  the 
purest  water  obtained  outside  of  this  natural  organiza- 
tion. This,  in  regard  to  milk,  has  been  proved  by 
experiment.  Carefully  add  to  a dish  of  pure  fresh 
milk  a few  drops  of  pure  Cochituate  water,  and 
almost  immediately,  under  a microscope,  can  be  seen 
commencing  a change  which  will  result  in  decomposi- 
tion. Place  a dish  of  pure  milk,  containing  eighty- 
seven  per  cent,  of  water,  as  it  came  from  the  cow, 
where  it  will  keep  sweet  twenty-four  hours,  and  place 
beside  it  another  dish  of  the  same  milk,  adding  only 
one  per  cent,  of  pure  water  of  the  same  temperature-, 
and  the  milk  last  named  will  be  changed  in  less  than 
twelve  hours.  When  our  milkmen,  therefore,  dilute 


NO  WATER  IS  ABSOLUTELY  PURE. 


189 


their  milk,  they  not  only  defraud  by  selling  water  for 
milk,  but  they  actually  adulterate  it  in  the  true  sense 
of  that  term.  From  this  fact  housekeepers  and  milkmen 
may  get  an  important  hint.  It  is  not  only  necessary, 
in  order  to  keep  milk  from  changing,  to  have  the  dish 
or  can  containing  it  well  scalded  and  sweet,  but  also  per- 
fectly dry,  a single  drop  of  pure  water  being  suflScient 
to  start  the  process  of  fermentation,  or  change,  and  the 
more  impure  the  water  the  greater  will  be  its  influence. 

No  water  can  be  obtained  perfectly  pure,  as  even 
that  which  comes  directly  from  the  clouds  contains 
slight  traces  of  mineral,  animal,  and  vegetable  matter. 
Carbonate  and  muriate  of  ammonia  have  been  obtained 
by  distillation  from  pure  river  water,  and  this  ammonia 
is  the  cause  of  that  feeling  of  softness  which  is  even 
greater  than  in  pure  distilled  water. 

Collected  in  the  cleanest  and  purest  vessels,  it  also 
contains  organic  matter  and  the  germ  of  animal  and 
vegetable  life  sufficient  to  produce  putrefaction,  animal- 
cule and  vegetable  moulds ; and  when  collected  in  large 
cities  it  is  less  pure  than  in  the  country,  containing 
as  it  does,  besides  the  impurities  already  mentioned, 
creosote,  carbonic  acid  gas,  and  other  materials  result- 
ing from  combustion,  decomposition,  and  evaporation. 
Still,  next  to  water  contained  in  milk,  and  the  juices  of 
fruits,  rain  water  is  the  purest. 

• 

Snow  Water. 

Snow,  being  rain  congealed,  contains  the  same  am- 
moniacal  impurities ; but  being  congealed  in  the  upper 


190 


SOURCES  OF  INORGANIC  MATTER. 


and  purer  regions  of  the  atmosphere,  it  brings  down 
with  it  less  of  the  organic  impurities,  but  being  in  other 
respects  the  same,  cannot  be  injurious  to  health,  as  is 
commonly  supposed.  It  will  not,  however,  quench 
thirst  unless  melted  before  it  goes  into  the  mouth,  the 
loss  of  heat  in  melting  counteracting  entirely  the  natu- 
ral effect  of  water,  so  that  the  natives  of  arctic  regions, 
according  to  the  testimony  of  Captain  Ross,  "prefer 
enduring  the  utmost  extremity  of  thirst  rather  than 
attempt  to  remove  it  by  eating  snow ; ” but  after  it  is 
melted  it  is  as  nearly  pure  as  any  water,  and  quenches 
thirst  as  well. 

Spring  Water. 

Water  falling  in  rain  on  the  surface  of  the  earth 
percolates  through  the  soil  and  substratal  gravel  or 
sand,  till  it  comes  down  to  an  impervious  stratum, 
carrying  with  it  of  course  all  soluble  substances  that 
have  been  taken  up  but  not  filtered  out  by  the  sand 
through  which  it  passes.  It  passes  along  this  imper- 
vious substratum  till  it  comes  to  some  opening  in  a 
valley,  or  remains  to  be  obtained  through  a well.  It 
is  of  course  affected  by  the  salts  of  the  soil,  and  by  the 
soluble  minerals  in  the  gravel,  or  sand,  or  rock  through 
which  it  passes,  and  the  quality  of  the  water  depends 
on  the  character  of  the  soil  and  the  gravel.  If  the  soil 
be  thin  and  poor,  and  the  foundation  rock  and  gravel 
be  granite,  as  in  New  England,  there  are  few  soluble 
salts  or  minerals  to  be  taken  up,  ajid  the  water  is  pure ; 
but  if  the  soil  is  rich,  and  the  subsoil  and  rocks  are 


WHAT  ELEMENTS  AKE  WANTED  IN  WATER.  191 

mixed  with  soluble  mineral  compounds,  as  in  most  of 
the  rich  valleys  of  our  great  rivers,  the  water  is  filled 
with  organic  and  mineral  matters,  and  is  the  source  of 
many  diseases. 

River  Water 

Is  generally  a mixture  of  rain  water  and  spring  water, 
and  of  course  varies  in  its  impurities  according  to  the 
character  of  the  soil  of  which  it  is  the  wash,  and  rocks 
and  gravel  thi-ough  which  it  is  filtered,  and  according 
to  the  amount  of  impurities  which  it  receives  in  its 
passage  to  the  ocean. 

From  water  the  system  obtains  nothing  of  value  but 
oxygen  and  hydrogen.  This,  I think,  has  been  shown 
by  the  explanation  of  the  law  which  makes  provision 
for  the  fourteen  elements  in  pure  air,  pure  w^ater,  and 
in  organized  vegetable  matter.  I cannot,  therefore, 
agree  with  Dr.  Lankester  in  his  ” Guide  to  the  Food 
Collection  in  the  South  Kensington  Museum.”  * That 
waters  from  rivers,  surface  wells,  and  deep  artesian 
wells,  containing  saline  and  mineral  matters  in  solu- 
tion, ” provided  they  are  not  in  quantities  so  large  as 
to  act  injuriously  on  the  system,  may  become  a source 
of  supply  of  these  constituents  to  the  body.”  Having 
proved,  as  I think  I have,  that  Nature  accepts  of  no 

* I take  pleasure  in  acknowledging  my  indebtedness  to  Dr.  Lan- 
kester for  many  analyses  of  grains,  &c.,  and  for  many  other  interest- 
ing facts  which  have  been  of  great  service  in  the  preparation  of  this 
treatise;  also  to  Drs.  Johnston,  Pereira,  and  other  distinguished 
English  authors. 


192  HOW  WATER  IS  USED  IN  THE  STOMACH. 

supplies  of  elements  but  in  accordance  with  her  own 
definite  provision  for  these  elements,  as  before  ex- 
plained, I cannot  think  that  she  trusts  to  chance  sup- 
plies, and  would  allow  the  human  system  to  depend  for 
the  supply  of  any  elements  on  waters,  some  of  which 
contain  no  inorganic  elements,  and  some  quite  too 
many.  On  the  contrary,  the  first  process  in  the  use 
of  water  in  the  system  is  to  remove  all  elements  but 
oxygen  and  hydrogen  from  drinks  of  any  kind  as  soon 
as  they  are  taken  into  the  stomach.  If  the  drink  con- 
tains sugar,  or  the  juice  of  meat,  or  any  other  appropri- 
ate element  of  food,  these  elements  are  first  abstracted 
and  digested,  and  if  it  contains  inorganic  substances, 
or  organic  substances  not  needed  in  the  system,  they 
are  first  cast  off  by  the  excretories,  so  that  whatever 
we  drink,  nothing  but  pure  water  is  used,  or  can  be 
used,  by  the  system.  If  we  take  brandy,  or  wine,  or 
beer,  or  coffee,  or  tea,  or  whatever  else  we  take,  it 
quenches  thirst  because  it  contains  water,  and  to  just 
the  extent  of  the  water.  It  is  therefore  important  that 
our  drinks  should  contain  nothing  deleterious. 

The  importance  of  pure  water,  as  a means  of  pre- 
serving health,  will  be  understood  by  all  who  have 
given  attention  to  the  laws  which  I have  endeavored 
to  explain,  by  which  all  elements  not  organized  in  pure 
vvater,  pure  air,  and  appropriate  food,  are  rejected  by 
the  system  as  poisonous ; but  we  have  also  facts  which 
place  the  subject  in  a very  strong  light.  In  a case  at 
the  Nottingham  Assizes,  in  July,  1836,  it  was  proved 
that  dysentery  in  an  aggravated  form  was  caused  in 


IMPUKE  WATER  THE  CAUSE  OF  DISEASE.  193 

cattle  by  the  use  of  water  with  putrescent  vegetable 
matter,  produced  by  the  refuse  of  a starch  factory; 
proving  my  position  true,  that  nutritious  elements,  if 
disorganized,  become  poisonous.  The  fish  (perch, 
gudgeon,  pike,  roach,  and  dace),  and  even  frogs  in 
the  pond  through  which  the  brook  ran,  were  destroyed. 
All  the  cows,  calves,  and  horses  which  drank  of  this 
water  became  sick,  and  in  eight  years  the  plaintiff  lost 
twenty-four  cows  and  nine  calves,  all  of  dysentery.  It 
was  also  shown  that  the  mortality  was  in  proportion  to 
the  quantity  of  starch  made  at  different  times,  and  that 
when  the  water  containing  the  putrescent  matter  was 
not  allowed  to  pass  into  the  brook  the  mortality  ceased, 
and  the  frogs  and  fishes  were  restored. 

Dr.  Bell,  surgeon  to  the  barracks  at  Cork,  found 
dysentery  prevailing  among  the  soldiers,  till  he  sus- 
pected that  it  arose  from  water  contaminated  by  the 
drainage  from  the  city,  and,  changing  the  water  to  that 
of  pure  spring  water,  had  no  more  of  the  disease ; and 
in  our  late  rebellion,  it  was  found  that  whenever  the 
soldiers  were  obliged  to  drink  water  containing  organic 
impurities,  as  in  the  swamps  of  Chickahominy,  they 
soon  became  sick  bf  dysentery,  or  some  other  disease 
of  the  digestive  organs. 

13 


194 


HARD  WATER. 


Waters  containing  Inorganic  Substances  usually 
denominated  Hard  Waters. 

Those  waters  which  are  usually  obtained  from  wells, 
contain  salts  of  various  kinds,  derived  from  the  soil  and 
subsoil  through  which  they  percolate,  and  of  course  are 
more  or  less  injurious  as  they  contain  elements  and 
combinations  more  or  less  active.  The  most  common 
salt  found  in  hard  water  is  sulphate  of  lime,  the  ele- 
ments of  which  and  the  elements  of  soap  have  a mutual 
affinity  for  each  other,  and  when  soap  is  used  with  such 
water  a double  decomposition  takes  place,  — the  sul- 
phuric acid  unites  with  the  alkali  of  the  soap,  setting 
free  the  fatty  acids,  which,  uniting  with  the  lime,  form 
an  insoluble  earthy  soap,  which  floats  on  the  surface, 
and  the  soap  losing  its  influence,  the  water  feels  hard 
and  very  imperfectly  performs  the  functions  of  ablution. 
These  salts  also  have  a very  unfavorable  effect  in  the 
animal  economy,  as  the  elements  not  being  wanted  in 
the  system  have  to  be  cast  out  through  the  excretories, 
causing,  in  their  passage  out,  diseases  of  the  kidney 
and  of  the  skin,  and  it  is  found  that  gravelly  deposits 
and  eruptions  of  the  skin  are  frequent  in  proportion  to 
the  inorganic  substances  in  the  water  habitually  used. 
Horses  seem  instinctively  aware  of  the  evils  of  hard 
water,  and  prefer  even  turbid  river  water  to  hard  well 
water.  Mr.  Youatt,  an  English  writer,  in  his  book 
on  the  Horse,  published  in  London,  1831,  says, 
Hard  water,  drawn  fresh  from  the  well,  will  assuredly 
make  the  coat  of  a horse,  unaccustomed  to  it,  stare, 


THE  PUREST  WATER  CORRODES  LEAD  PIPE.  195 


and  it  will  not  unfrequently  gripe  and  otherwise  injure 
him.”  And  Mr.  Chadwick,  in  his  report  to  her  Majes- 
ty’s principal  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Home  Depart- 
ment from  the  Poor  Law  Commissioners,  on  an  inquiry 
into  the  sanitary  condition  of  the  laboring  population 
of  Great  Britain  in  1842,  observes  that  ” water  con- 
taining animal  matter,  which  is  the  most  feared,  appears 
to  be  less  frequently  injurious  than  that  which  is  clear- 
est, namely,  spring  water,  from  the  latter  being  oftener 
impregnated  with  mineral  substances.”  These  consid- 
erations are  sufficient  to  show  that  pure  water  is  impor- 
tant for  the  preservation  of  health ; but  in  one  respect 
pure  waters  are  more  dangerous  than  those  containing 
salts,  especially  the  salts  of  lime.  Pure  water  will, 
under  some  circumstances,  corrode  lead  pipes,  and  dis- 
solve more  lead  than  those  containing  salts  of  lime, 
especially  carbonates,  which  form  a crust  on  the  surface 
of  the  pipes,  and  thus  protect  them  from  the  action 
of  water,  while  even  rain  water,  on  surfaces  of  lead 
exposed  to  air  and  water  alternately,  as  in  lead  gutters, 
cisterns,  pipes,  &c.,  acts  with  considerable  energy,  as 
may  be  seen  by  examining  any  pipe  at  the  surface  of  a 
cistern  of  water,  or  any  cistern  lined  with  zinc  or  lead, 
at  the  surface  of  the  water,  or  the  top  of  a closed 
cistern,  where  the  steam  or  moisture  gathers.  The 
drops  of  water  which  condense  on  the  top  of  a cistern 
of  water  are  impregnated  with  the  oxide  of  zinc  or 
lead  (both  to  some  extent  poisonous),  and  dropping 
Into  the  water,  impregnate  the  whole  mass,  and  render 
it  unfit  for  drinking  purposes.  There  are  also  places 


196  THE  DELETERIOUS  INFLUENCE  OF  LEAD. 


in  all  lined  cisterns,  and  all  pipes  where  two  metals 
are  united  or  come  in  contact,  forming  a galvanic  bat- 
tery — as  in  soldered  joints,  supporting  bars  of  iron, 
copper  faucets,  &c.,  and  the  action  on  the  water,  how- 
ever pure,  in  these  parts  will  cause  decomposition  of 
the  metals ; and  thus  in  the  purest  water,  if  we  obtain 
it  through  lead  pipes,  or  zinc-lined  cisterns,  or  copper 
boilers,  we  get  some  very  deleterious  mineral  matters, 
which  affect  the  system,  even  though  we  get  them  in 
very  minute  quantities. 

The  worst  of  this  influence  is,  that  it  is  cumulative ; 
and  no  particular  effects  being  perceived,  perhaps,  for 
a long  time,  we  come  to  doubt  whether  water  which  we 
have  used  with  apparent  impunity  for  months,  and  per- 
haps years,  can  in  any  way  be  injurious  ; and  many  a 
disease,  such  as  colic,  numbness,  pain  in  the  bones, 
constipation,  fits,  spasms,  cramps,  &c.,  is  charged  to 
something  else,  or  the  cause  of  which  is  not  known,  is 
really  induced  by  the  cumulative  influence  of  lead, 
zinc,  or  copper  from  our  water  pipes  or  cistern  linings, 
&c.  Cases  frequently  occur  in  which  whole  families 
are  afflicted  with  some  mysterious  and  complicated 
diseases,  from  which  they  suffer  for  months  and  years, 
and  which  destroy  all  their  comfort  and  all  their  useful- 
ness, and  even  the  life  of  some  of  the  members,  before 
tliey  suspect  the  cause ; but  when  scientific  investi- 
gation is  finally  obtained,  the  cause  is  found  to  be  lead 
pipes,  from  which  they  had  used  water  from  the  same 
well  for  years,  much  of  the  time  enjoying  good  health. 
Not  one  half  of  the  evils  from  metallic  water  pipes 


METALLIC  SERVICE  PIPES. 


197 


are  known,  or  ever  can  be  known,  till  they  are  utterly 
discarded,  and  we  experience  the  blessings  of  health 
which  come  from  pure  water. 

Every  scientific  man,  and  every  other  man  who 
realizes  these  evils  to  the  community,  ought  to  '^cry 
aloud  and  spare  not,”  till  our  city  authorities,  and 
every  individual  householder,  shall  open  their  eyes  to 
see  them,  and  shall  banish  forever  all  unprotected 
metallic  service  pipe.  Let  the  people  once  make  up 
their  minds  they  will  drink  no  water  poisoned  with 
lead,  or  zinc,  or  copper,  whatever  it  may  cost  to  get 
pure  water,  and  there  will  be  found  means  of  procuring 
pure  water ; but  as  long  as  we  deceive  ourselves  as  we 
do  with  the  idea  that  however  others  may  suffer  from 
water  impregnated  with  lead,  or  zinc,  or  copper,  we 
are  safe,  — our  well  of  water,  and  our  Cochituate,  or 
Croton,  or  Schuylkill  water  does  not  corrode  pipes,  — 
we  shall  continue  to  take  water  poisoned  with  lead  and 
i)ther  mineral  matters. 

The  truth  is,  we  who  laugh  at  the  silly  ostrich  for 
poking  her  head  under  the  sand,  and  thinking  herself 
safe  because  she  can  see  no  danger,  are  after  all  but 
little  wiser.  We  blind  our  eyes  to  a thousand  evils, 
and  bear  their  consequences  rather  than  take  the 
trouble  to  remove  them. 

A sk  a man  who  lives  on  the  border  of  Chickahominy 
Swamp,  or  any  other  notoriously  vile  and  sickly  local- 
ity, about  the  health  and  comforts  of  his  home,  and  he 
will  tell  you  he  has  "a  heap”  of  good  and  pleasant 
things  about  him,  and  no  annoyances  or  sickness  of 


198 


GALVANIC  ACTION  ON  WATER  PIPES. 


any  kind.  " They  have  the  dysentery  and  bilious 
fever  over  the  other  side,  a few  miles  off,  and  the 
mosquitoes  are  awful ; ” but  he  has  none  of  these 
troubles. 

Ask  a man,  as  I did,  who  had  always  lived  on  the 
Mississippi  River,  and  always  drank  water  so  thickened 
with  organic  and  inorganic  impurities  that  it  looks  like 
gruel  more  than  like  water,  why  he  did  not  filter  the 
vile  stuflP,^and  he  will  tell  you,  as  he  told  me,  ''  There 
was  never  sweeter,  or  better,  or  more  healthy  water 
drank  in  the  world ; it  is  much  better  without  filter- 
ing, as  it  has  more  body  to  I asked  him  if  in  his 
neighborhood  they  were  not  subject  to  dysenteries, 
bowel  complaints,  bilious  fevers,  and  the  like.  He 
said,  Yes ; but  the  water  had  nothing  to  do  with  such 
troubles. 

Ask  the  Cochituate  Water  Board  about  Boston  water, 
and  they  will  tell  you  truly  that  it  is  the  purest  water 
used  by  any  large  city  on  the  face  of  the  earth  ; that, 
according  to  Prof.  Benjamin  Silliman,  it  is  capable  of 
dissolving  only  forty-six  hundredths  of  a grain  of  lead 
in  a gallon,  and  therefore  cannot  corrode  leaden  pipes ; 
but  they  will  not  tell  you  that,  open  any  cistern  or  any 
pipe  that  is  not  all  the  time  full,  and  you  will  find  the 
lining  coated  with  carbonate  of  lead,  and  that  near  the 
soldered  joints  a galvanic  and  chemical  action  is  con- 
stantly going  on,  so  that  the  pipes  are  eaten  off  and 
burst  very  frequently  (in  my  house  the  pipes  are  eaten 
and  burst  five  or  six  times  a year,  and  always  near 
some  soldered  joint) . 


ORGANIC  MATTERS  IN  WATER. 


199 


Deceive  ourselves  as  we  may,  there  is  no  water  inca- 
pable of  acting  on  lead,  or  zinc,  or  copper,  under  some 
circumstances,  and  these  metals  should  never  be  used 
for,  or  connected  with  service  pipe ; and  the  sooner  the 
people  fully  understand  this  fact  the  better.  But  how 
shall  we  protect  ourselves  in  the  mean  time  ? It  takes  a 
long  time  for  the  most  palpable  truths  to  get  control  of 
corporations,  proverbially  conservative.  Meantime  we 
should  never  use  water  to  drink  or  for  cooking  that 
has  stood  for  any  length  of  time  in  the  pipes,  and  never 
use  at  all  for  these  purposes  water  that  comes  from  a 
leaden  or  zinc-lined  cistern. 

Water  containing  organic  matters  can  be  filtered 
through  sand  and  charcoal.  Boiling  also  purifies 
water,  the  salts  that  are  held  in  solution  by  car- 
bonic acid,  as  the  carbonate  of  lime,  or  carbonate 
of  iron,  or  lead,  the  heat  of  boiling  water  driving 
off  the  carbonic  acid,  and  leaving  the  lime,  or  iron, 
or  lead  deposited  on  the  vessel  in  which  it  is  boiled. 
In  travelling  in  regions  where  the  water  is  impreg- 
nated with  lime,  or  organic  materials,  it  is  a good 
precaution  to  drink  no  water  that  has  not  been  boiled, 
and  a better  plan  still,  to  get  as  much  as  possible 
of  the  necessary  supply  for  the  system  from  milk, 
and  vegetables,  and  fruits,  from  which  we  get  water 
absolutely  pure,  and  fitted  to  be  appropriated,  without 
any  process  of  purification,  in  the  stomach.  Another 
reason  for  not  drinking  water  which  contains  organic 
matters,  without  boiling,  is,  that  all  such  waters  con- 
tain animacula0,  and  the  eggs  of  insects  and  vermin, 


200 


WATER  ALONE  QUENCHES  THIRST. 


some  of  which  are  capable  of  resisting  the  action  of  the 
gastric  juice,  and  will  live  and  grow  in  the  stomach ; 
thus  leeches,  and  snakes,  and  other  disgusting  creatures 
have  been  known  to  be  taken  in  impure  or  stagnant 
water  in  which  they  are  hatched,  and  live  in  the  stomach 
, for  a long  time,  causing  great  annoyance  and  distress. 
No  animalcules  are  found  in  water  absolutely  pure,  and 
none  are  known  to  exist  that  are  not  destroyed  by  boil- 
ing water. 

And  now,  having  explained  the  process  by  which,  at 
such  infinite  expense,  water  is  furnished  to  every  living 
thing,  everywhere  and  at  all  times,  and  having  shown 
that  pure  water,  and  nothing  else,  can  dilute  the  blood 
and  prepare  it  to  circulate,  carrying  to  every  part  the 
nourishment  needed,  and  taking  from  every  part  the 
efiete  materials  no  longer  wanted,  and  that  nothing 
else  can  supply  the  hydrogen,  and  other  elements,  as 
they  are  needed  in  the  system,  and  that,  therefore,  all 
other  drinks  subserve  these  different  purposes  because 
they  contain  water,  and  in  just  the  proportion  as  they 
contain  w^ater,  all  other  drinks  might  be  summarily 
disposed  of  as  useless  and  injurious ; but  wedded,  as 
every  nation  is,  to  some  artificial  drink,  and  biased,  as 
scientific  men  are,  in  favor  of  that  to  which  they  them- 
selves are  accustomed,  there  is  need  of  applying  chem* 
istry,  physiology,  and  common  sense  to  our  drinks,  as 
well  as  to  our  solid  food.  For,  though  it  be  true,  as 
we  have  said,  that  pure  water  is  the  only  true  drink, 
and  that  therefore  there  can  be  no  substitute  for  it ; 
and  though  it  be  true  that  all  the  living  creatures  which 


SUBSTITUTES  FOB  WATER. 


201 


God  has  made,  some  of  which,  as  we  have  seen,  are 
subject  to  the  same  physiological  laws  as  man,  and  take 
the  same  kind  of  food,  all  take  water  alone  for  drink, 
and  are  all  contented  with  it;  still,  to  conform  to  his 
cosmopolitan  character,  man  sometimes  needs  some 
modification  of  water  for  drink  to  avoid  and  counter- 
act the  influence  of  impure  water,  to  which,  in  our 
present  ignorance  of  the  means  of  correcting  the  evil, 
we  are  sometimes  subject.  Even  a teetotaller  ought 
to  be  excused  for  breaking  his  pledge  if  so  situ- 
ated that  he  could  get  nothing  else,  and  must  choose 
between  wine,  although  it  did  contain  a little  poison- 
ous alcohol,  and  impure  waters,  containing  mate- 
rials a thousand  times  more  deleterious  than  a little 
alcohol. 

The  substitutes  for  water,  commonly  adopted  in  civ- 
ilized nations,  are  alcoholic  drinks,  including  distilled 
spirits,  beers,  cider,  wdnes,  — and  tea,  coffee,  and  choc- 
olate ; each  of  which  deserves,  and  shall  have,  a passing 
notice. 

Tea, 

That  infusion  which  is  usually  denominated  Tea, 
which  is  used  by  five  hundred  millions  of  the  inhab- 
itants  of  the  earth,  is  made  from  the  leaves  of  several 
varieties  of  a small  shrub  found  in  China  and  India, 
(ind  now  cultivated  in  many  other  parts  of  the  world. 
The  leaves  are  not  gathered  till  the  plant  is  four  years 
old ; and  the  plant  is  renewed  every  tenth  or  twelfth 
year.  The  shrub  is  closely  allied  to  the  well-known 


202 


TEA. 


Camellia  Japonica.  The  difference  between  teas  of  the 
two  general  classes  in  common  use  — the  green  and 
black  teas  — is  accounted  for  in  different  ways  by 
different  authors.  Lankester  says  the  difference  is 
partly  the  result  of  soil  and  growth,  and  partly  from 
the  mode  of  curing.  "Black  tea  consists  of  leaves 
slightly  fermented,  washed  and  twisted.  Genuine 
green  lea  is  made  of  exactly  the  same  leaves,  washed 
and  twisted  without  fermentation ; but  commercial 
^ green  ’ teas  are  often  black  teas  colored  with  Prussian 
blue.”  While  Mr.  Peeves,  whose  opinion,  according 
to  the  authority  of  Pereira,  is  entitled  to  great  weight, 
expresses  his  surprise  "that  any  person  who  has  been 
in  China,  or  indeed  any  one  who  has  seen  the  differ- 
ence in  the  color  of  the  infusions  of  black  and  green 
tea,  could  suppose  for  a moment  that  they  were  the 
product  of  the  same  plant,  differing  only  in  the  mode 
of  curing,  particularly  as  they  do  not  grow  in  the  same 
neighborhood  of  each  other.”  But  whether  the  differ- 
ence consists  in  the  manner  of  preparing,  or  the  species 
or  varieties  of  plants,  chemical  analysis  shows  that  green 
tea,  as  it  comes  to  us,  contains  more  tannin,  and  more 
of  that  peculiar  principle  which  is  found  combined  with 
tannin,  which  is  called  theine,  or  theina,  which  is  the 
same  principle  found  in  coffee,  and  called  caffeine. 
The  tannin  is  injurious  on  account  of  its  astringent 
effects,  and  the  theine  and  caffeine  are  injurious  to 
\nany  people  on  account  of  their  peculiar  influence  on 
the  nervous  system,  inducing  restlessness  and  wakeful- 
ness. On  that  account  green  tea  disagrees  with  more 


AMOUNT  OF  TEA  CONSUMED. 


203 


people  than  black  tea,  and,  in  this  country,  is  almost 
given  up  for  black  tea. 

Dr.  Lankester  estimates  that  in  the  United  Kingdom 
above  thirty-two  thousand  tons,  or  seventy-three  mil- 
lions of  pounds,  are  annually  used,  or  about  two  pounds 
and  three  quarters  for  every  person  in  the  kingdom ; 
and  he  has  given  a table  showing  the  relative  consump- 
tion of  tea  in  different  countries  ; and  I transcribe  below 
his  estimate  for  the  United  Kingdom,  France,  Russia, 
and  the  United  States. 

Annual  Consumption^  in  Ounces^  per  Head  of  the 
Population, 

United  Kingdom,  ....  35^  oz. 

France, 1 ‘‘ 

Russia, 4 

United  States, 16 

The  property  which  distinguishes  the  different  kinds 
of  teas  from  each  other,  and  gives  them  their  flavor,  is 
found  in  the  form  of  volatile  oil.  This  flavor,  or  osma- 
zome,  is,  as  I think  can  be  shown,  the  source  of  all  the 
benefits  that  can  be  derived  from  tea,  and  the  source  of 
one  class  of  evils  which  arise  from  its  use  in  excess. 
By  the  chemical  analysis  of  pure  tea,  of  any  variety,  we 
find  no  elements  capable  of  doing  harm  to  the  system, 
except  tannin  and  osmazome.  Osmazome  in  tea  seems 
to  be  a flavor  universally  admired,  and  therefore  the 
cause  of  its  extensive  use  all  over  the  world.  It  is 


204 


DELETEKIOUS  PROPERTIES  IN  TEA. 


only  injurious  when  taken  in  excess,  being  the  element 
diffused  through  all  natural  food,  and  which  is  useful 
in  giving  a relish  and  in  promoting  digestion ; but  in 
excess,  produces  nervous  excitement  and  subsequent 
depression.  These  effects  are,  however,  evanescent, 
and  soon  pass  away  unless  the  cause  is  continued. 
But  tannin,  or  tannic  acid,  is  a medical  agent,  perma- 
nent in  its  effects,  and  undoubtedly  injurious  to  the 
system  in  proportion  to  its  use.  It  is  found  combined 
with  theine,  the  peculiar  principle  of  tea,  and  consti- 
tutes more  than  twenty-five  per  cent,  of  the  dry  leaf. 

According  to  Dr.  Lankester,  one  pound  of  good  tea 
contains  — 


Water,  .... 

. 0 

oz. 

350 

Theine,  .... 

. 0 

210 

Tannic  acid. 

. 4 

i 6 

87 

Casein,  .... 

. 2 

66 

175 

Aromatic  oil. 

. 0 

66 

52 

Sugar,  .... 

. 0 

6 6 

211 

Fat, 

. 0 

66 

280 

Woody  fibre. 

. 3 

66 

87 

Mineral  matter, 

. 0 

(( 

350 

Gum,  .... 

. 2 

6 6 

385 

The  chemical  difference  between  black  and  green 
teas  may  be  seen  by  the  following  table  from  Mulder, 
comparing  two  kinds  of  green  tea  with  two  kinds  of 
black : — 


BLACK  AND  GEEEN  TEAS. 


206 


Chinese.  Japanese. 


Green. 

Black. 

Green. 

Black. 

Chlorophyll, 

2.22 

1.84 

3.24 

1.28 

Wax, 

0.28 

.00 

0.32 

.00 

Resin, 

2.22 

3.64 

1.64 

2.44 

Gum, 

8.56 

7.28 

12.20 

11.08 

Tannin, 

17.80 

12.88 

17.56 

14.80 

Theine, 

0.43 

0.46 

0.60 

0.65 

Extractive  matter,  . 

22.80 

19.88 

21.63 

18.64 

Apotheme,  .... 

.00 

1.48 

.00 

1.64 

Ext.  obtained  by  hydro-' 
chloric  acid,  . 

j-23.60 

19.12 

20.36 

18.24 

Albumen,  .... 

3.00 

2.80 

3.64 

1.28 

Fibrous  matter. 

17.08 

28.32 

18.20 

27.00 

Volatile  oil,  ... 

0.79 

0.60 

0.98 

0.65 

By  this  table  we  see  why  green  tea  is  more  injurious 
than  black,  containing  as  it  does  nearly  one  third  more 
tannin,  and  from  one  third  to  one  quarter  more  volatile 
oil,  while  of  the  other  important  element,  theine,  there 
is  a little  more  in  the  black  tea.  That  it  is  not  theine, 
but  tannin  and  volatile  oil,  that  produces  tremor, 
anxiety,  sleeplessness,  &c.,  is  therefore  proved,  black 
tea  containing  most  theine,  and  yet  producing  least  of 
these  nervous  symptoms.  On  the  other  hand,  I cannot 
believe  with  Liebig  that  theine  or  caffeine  have  any  im-* 
portant  influence  in  the  change  of  the  tissues  or  in  the 
composition  of  the  bile,  and  "are  better  adapted  to  this 
purpose  than  all  other  nitrogenized  vegetable  principles.’' 


206  COFFEE  AND  TEA  USEFUL  FOR  THEIR  FLAVOR. 

We  have  seen  that  every  principle,  important  to  the 
human  economy,  is  so  carefully  provided  for,  that 
wherever  man  may  choose  to  live,  he  finds  all  these 
principles  prepared  for  his  use  ready  at  hand ; but 
caffeine  and  theine  are  only  found  in  tropical  climates, 
and  are  indeed  quite  local  in  their  production.  We 
find,  also,  that  more  than  three  quarters  of  all  the 
people  in  the  world  live  and  enjoy  health  without  ever 
tasting  these  principles.  Liebig’s  theories,  therefore, 
in  this  matter,  as  in  many  others,  are  not  sustained  by 
facts  or  general  principles.  Theine,  caffeine,  or  any 
other  peculiar  principles  found  in  tea  or  coffee,  cannot 
be  proved  to  be  essential  to  health  in  any  circumstances 
or  conditions  of  life ; but  I am  not,  on  the  other  hand, 
prepared  to  prove  that  to  everybody  they  are  essentially 
injurious. 

The  truth,  it  seems  to  me,  lies  between  the  extrem- 
ists, on  the  one  hand,  who  think  theine  and  caffeine,  to 
use  again  the  words  of  Liebig,  ” are  capable  of  supply- 
ing the  place  of  the  nitrogenized  product  produced  in 
the  healthy  state  of  the  body,”  and  the  extremists,  on 
the  other  hand,  who  condemn  tea  and  coffee  "as  evil, 
and  only  evil,  and  that  continually.”  Tea  and  coffee 
are  sometimes  useful ; but  not  for  nutriment,  or  to  take 
tlie  place  of  nutriment : Nature  furnishes  no  substitutes. 
They  are  useful  for  their  osmazomes,  and  are  useful  or 
injurious  as  they  are  used  or  not  used  in  accordance 
with  the  purposes  of  that  principle ; and  here,  perhaps, 
as  well  as  anywhere,  I may  explain  what  is  meant  by 
osmazome,  and  its  purposes  in  the  economy  of  nature. 


OSMAZOMB. 


207 


The  Principle  which  gives  Relish  to  Food  and  Drink. 

Much  too  little  has  hitherto  been  thought  by  physi- 
ologists, and  almost  nothing  has  been  written  on  that 
beautiful  provision  for  our  happiness  by  which  every- 
thing that  is  useful  as  food  or  drink  is  made  agreeable 
to  the  palate,  so  that  the  higher  our  relish  for  any  given 
article,  the  more  perfectly  is  it  digested  and  made  to 
supply  the  wants  of  the  system,  we  have  therefore  a 
natural  guide  to  the  right  kind  of  food  at  the  right  time, 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  have  a disrelish  for  articles 
which,  not  being  suited  to  our  condition,  would  be 
injurious.  But  a little  reflection  will  show  us  that, 
in  this  adaptation  of  our  palates  to  the  peculiar  taste 
or  osmazome  of  every  distinct  article  of  food,  we  have 
a faithful  sentinel,  inviting  the  admission  of  friends  and 
protecting  us  from  the  approach  of  enemies. 

Place  before  a child,  who  has  never  tasted  of  sugar, 
or  butter,  or  superfine  flour,  or  any  other  elements  of 
food  that  have  been  separated  from  their  natural  con- 
nections, and  whose  tastes  are  therefore  unperverted, 
milk,  unbolted  bread,  meats,  fruits,  or  any  other  nat- 
ural food,  and  he  will  choose  just  that  article  which  is 
best  adapted  to  his  condition  at  the  time,  and  may  be 
trusted  to  eat  as  much  as  he  pleases. 

At  first,  after  being  weaned  from  his  primary  milk, 
he  will  prefer  the  milk  of  the  cow,  and  after  a while 
need,  and  choose  with  it,  some  more  concentrated  food, 
as  unbolted  wheat,  or  other  bread  from  grains  in  their 
natural  state,  and  then  meats,  and  potatoes,  and  fruits, 


208 


HOW  THE  TASTE  IS  PERVERTED. 


according  to  their  season ; and  he  never  will  desire 
any  other  than  natural  food  till  his  appetite  is  per- 
verted by  sugar,  or  butter,  &c.,  which,  being  separated 
from  their  natural  elements,  contain  their  osmazome 
in  a state  too  concentrated.  After  that,  his  bread 
will  be  insipid  without  butter,  and  his  milk  must  have 
sugar,  and  the  natural  relations  of  his  tastes  to  nat- 
ural osmazomes  is  broken  up.  And  so  dependent  are 
the  digestive  organs  on  the  osmazome  to  which  they 
are  used,  that,  after  becoming  accustomed  to  butter, 
sugar,  tea,  coffee,  or  any  other  food  or  drink  in  which 
is  a concentrated  and  agreeable  flavor,  they  will  not 
readily  digest  food  without  them.  Thus  we  become 
accustomed  to,  and  dependent  on,  articles  of  food  and 
drink  which  are  temporarily  useful,  but  permanently 
injurious. 

Many  a man  becomes  so  accustomed  to  alcoholic 
drinks,  as  wines,  beers,  and  even  laudanum,  that  he 
suffers  from  indigestion  and  loss  of  appetite  unless  they 
are  constantly  supplied.  Now  this,  as  I understand  it, 
is  the  source  of  benefit  from  tea  and  coffee.  The 
agreeable  osmazome  promotes  digestion,  as  all  other 
agreeable  flavors  do ; and  with  a dinner  or  breakfast  of 
food  which,  from  improper  cooking,  or  for  any  other 
reason,  is  not  relished,  a small  cup  of  pure  aromatic 
coffee  or  tea  is  undoubtedly  a real  benefit. 

The'  French  people  seem  to  understand  this  principle 
better  than  the  English  or  Americans,  not  only  in 
regard  to  tea  and  coffee,  but  in  regard  to  all  kinds  of 
food  and  drink,  adjusting  the  articles  to  each  other,  so 


COFFEE  AND  TEA.  HOW  TO  BE  MADE.  209 

as  not  to  burden  the  system  with  redundant  carbonates 
while  the  nitrates  and  phosphates  are  deficient,  and 
always  making  them  relish  by  delicate  condiments. 
Instead  of  drinking  with  a breakfast  three  or  four 
cups  of  coffee  or  tea,  boiled  so  as  to  extract  all  the 
tannin  and  lose  most  of  the  aroma,  they  take  only 
moderately  of  an  infusion  made  so  quickly  as  to  ex- 
tract only  the  aromatic  properties,  while  the  more  dele- 
terious tannin  remains  with  the  dregs.  And  this,  after 
all,  to  my  mind  is  a solution  of  that  vexed  question 
which  has  so  puzzled  and  deceived  Liebig  and  other 
physiologists. 

That  cofiee,  tea,  fragrant  wines,  and  other  alcoholic 
drinks,  &c.,  do  under  some  circumstances  take  the 
place  of  food,  or  at  least  enable  men  to  keep  the  fiesh 
and  strength  with  less  food  than  without  them,  there  is 
no  doubt ; but  that  this  is  done  according  to  the  theory 
of  Liebig,  "by  retarding  the  metamorphosis  of  the 
tissues,”  or  by  furnishing  actual  nourishment  from 
alcohol  or  any  peculiar  principles  in  coffee  or  tea, 
there  is  not  a shadow  of  proof.  On  the  ^ther  hand, 
the  evidence  is  clear,  that  not  in  proportion  to  the 
alcohol,  or  theine,  or  caffeine  contained  in  these  arti- 
cles is  the  benefit  to  be  derived  from  them,  but  in  pro- 
portion as  the  osmazome  of  each  is  agreeable  to  those 
who  take  them ; and  the  benefit  is  derived  from  the 
perfect  digestion  of  food  which  is  caused  by  this  agree- 
able osmazome.  No  man  of  careful  observation  has 
failed  to  notice  that  a little  food,  well  relished,  will  keep 
us  in  better  condition  than  large  quantities  of  the  most 
14 


210 


OUR  DUTY  TO  EAT  GOOD  FOOD. 


appropriate  elements  so  badly  cooked,  or  so  miserably 
served,  as  not  to  be  eaten  with  relish ; and  this  ex- 
plains the  well-known  fact  that  Frenchmen  live  and 
keep  in  good  condition  at  one  third  less  expense  than 
Americans  or  Englishmen. 

Having  now  given  my  views  of  the  sources  of 
benefit  to  be  derived  from  tea,  coffee,  and  all  other 
agreeable  beverages,  and  shown  that  they  are  useful 
in  promoting  digestion  by  their  osmazome,  and  not 
by  any  special  principle  contained  in  them,  it  will  be 
useless  to  go  into  an  analysis  of  each  beverage.  The 
whole  matter  may  be  summed  up  as  follows : The 

system  needs  the  three  classes  of  elements  included 
in  the  terms  Nitrates,  Carbonates,  and  Phosphates,  and 
pure  water;  and  these  elements,  to  be  rightly  appro- 
priated, must  be  presented  to  the  digestive  organs 
flavored  so  as  to  be  agreeable  to  them ; and  this 
flavor  is  as  important  as  the  other  elements. 

The  experiment  has  been  tried  of  shutting  up  a dog, 
with  good  natural  food,  containing  all  needed  elements 
but  osmazome,  but  having  been  cooked  and  re-cooked 
till  all  taste  and  smell  were  removed ; the  stomach 
would  not  receive  it,  and  the  dog  pined  away  until  it 
was  evident  he  would  starve  without  this  element, 
although  all  others  were  supplied.  And  this  one  ex- 
periment, it  seems  to  me,  is  worth  more  than  a volume 
of  commentaries  on  the  importance  of  osmazome.  It 
shows  us  not  only  that  it  is  duty  to  eat  good  food,  con- 
taining nutritive  elements  in  right  proportions,  but  it  is 
duty  to  eat  it  also  with  a good  relish. 


DELICATE  FLAVOKS  MOST  WHOLESOME.  211 


Does  any  one  say  he  cannot  afford  to  eat  good  ripe 
fruit,  and  berries,  and  well-flavored  meats,  and  vege- 
tables? let  him  make  a calculation,  comparing  the 
amount  of  fine  flour,  butter,  sugar,  and  other  carbona- 
ceous food  consumed  by  his  family,  with  the  requisite 
amount  of  that  class  of  elements,  as  shown  by  the 
tables,  and  calculate  the  amount  of  money  thus  use- 
lessly expended,  and  he  will  find  that,  by  bringing  his 
commissary  department  under  physiological  rules,  he 
will  have  surplus  funds  sufficient  to  procure  every  nat- 
ural luxury  which  is  needed  to  enable  him  to  enjoy,  to 
the  fullest  extent,  the  very  highest  gustatory  pleasures 
of  which  he  is  capable. 

And  here  again  we  are  liable  to  err.  Our  gusta- 
tory pleasures  are  not  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of 
osmazome  in  our  food  or  drink.  Nature’s  flavors  are 
very  delicate,  and  the  very  choicest  relish  is  that  pro- 
duced by  very  slight  traces  of  osmazome.  For  exam- 
ple, take  nutmeg,  a very  slight  grating  of  which  will 
flavor  a large  bowl  of  porridge.  Attempt  to  increase 
the  relish  by  increasing  the  quantity  of  the  spice,  and 
you  utterly  fail,  making  your  beverage  less  and  less 
agreeable  as  you  increase  the  quantity  of  nutmeg,  till 
it  becomes  disgusting,  and  positively  injurious  to  the 
digestive  process  ; and  this  is  true  of  all  other  condi- 
ments, and  indeed  all  other  good  things.  Delicate 
flavors  are  agreeable  and  useful  in  promoting  diges- 
tion ; but  every  article  which  is  capable  of  promoting 
health  and  happiness,  in  appropriate  quantities,  is  capa- 
ble of  doing  harm  in  unnatural  quantities,  just  as  every 


212 


HOW  WE  DECEIVE  OURSELVES. 


Other  blessing  is  converted  into  a curse  by  being  per- 
verted and  misused. 

Just  here  human  nature,  especially  Yankee  human 
nature,  is  prone  to  deceive  itself.  A man  finds  him- 
self very  happy  with  his  family  in  a little  tasteful 
cottage  home,  with  an  income  sufficient  to  meet  his 
expenses,  and  save  a little  every  year  for  future  contin- 
gencies ; but  he  wants  a larger  income,  that  he  may 
increase  his  conveniences,  enlarge  his  establishment,  and 
lay  up  more  money.  But  does  his  enjoyment  increase 
with  his  means?  On  the  contrary,  his  cares  increase, 
and  his  real  enjoyment  diminishes  at  every  step,  till 
long  before  he  becomes  a millionnaire  he  is  decidedly 
miserable. 

The  doctor  thinks  by  taking  medicine  twice  a day 
his  patient  may  get  well  in  two  weeks  ; but  the  patient 
piefers  to  wait  only  one  week,  and  therefore  takes  his 
medicine  four  times  a day : but  if  the  directions  were 
judiciously  given,  the  patient  finds  himself  worse  and 
not  better  at  the  end  of  the  week. 

A cup  of  very  weak,  well-flavored  tea  or  coffee  may 
be  very  agreeable,  and  promote  digestion,  and  be  of 
real  service,  especially  if  taken  with  food  which  is  not 
well  relished  ; but  if  we  follow  our  inclinations,  and 
attempt  to  increase  the  enjoyment  and  the  advantage  of 
the  beverage  by  increasing  its  strength  or  its  quantity, 
we  may  get  instead  nervous  excitement,  restlessness,  and 
indigestion,  and  a thousand  other  troubles,  and  the  evils 
will  increase,  while  the  pleasures  and  benefits  will  di- 
minish, pro  rata.  And  thus  we  find  everywhere  the  same 


WHEN  WE  NEED  OSMAZOME. 


218 


law,  encouraging  us  to  be  content  with  Nature’s  simple 
arrangements  for  our  welfare  and  happiness,  and  warn- 
ing us  of  the  danger  of  disregarding  them.  My  posi- 
tion in  regard  to  condiments  and  aromatic  drinks  is 
this:  If  we  could  always  get  good  natural  food, 

adapted  to  our  constitutional  condition,  and  have  it 
cooked  so  as  best  to  develop  its  natural  osmazome,  and 
if  we  could  get  with  it  pure  water,  we  should  need 
nothing  else  to  enable  us  to  enjoy  to  the  fullest  extent 
our  gustatory  pleasures,  and  the  enjoyment  arising 
from  the  highest  degree  of  health  and  activity  of  all 
our  faculties ; but  that,  with  unsavory  food  and  impure 
water,  we  derive  great  benefit  from  delicately  flavored 
condiments  and  aromatic  beverages  in  moderate  quan- 
tities ; that  a choice  in  these  beverages  is  to  be  deter- 
mined by  consulting  the  taste  of  each  individual ; that 
in  preparing  these  beverages  the  question  is  how  to  get 
the  osmazome  without  getting  the  deleterious  qualities 
with  which  it  is  connected-;  and  that  the  advantages  to 
be  derived  from  osmazome  are  never  in  direct  proportion 
to  the  amount  taken,  but  are  more  nearly  in  the  inverse 
proportion,  while  the  deleterious  elements  connected 
with  almost  all  the  beverages  in  common  use  increase 
in  direct  proportion  to  the  quantity  used. 

The  deleterious  element  in  tea  and  coffee  we  have 
already  shown  to  be  tannin,  and  this  element  can  be 
avoided  by  making  these  beverages  quickly,  never 
allowing  but  a few  moments  in  steeping.  By  this 
process  the  osmazome,  being  volatile,  is  all  obtained, 


214 


AROMATIC  BEVERAGES. 


while  the  tannin,  being  extractive,  remains  with  the 
dregs.  Made  in  this  way,  and  used  moderately,  there 
are  very  few  individuals  to  whom  they  are  injurious. 

Beer,  Cider,  Wine,  &€• 

Of  the  other  aromatic  beverages  in  common  use,  — 
beer,  cider,  wine,  &c.,  — the  deleterious  principle  is 
alcohol ; but  the  principle  which  distinguishes  each, 
and  constitutes  its  value,  is  osmazome ; all  other  prin- 
ciples of  any  consequence,  are  sugar,  starch,  &c.,  which 
they  hold  in  common  with  articles  of  food,  and  which 
are  derived  from  the  grains  and  fruits  from  which  they 
are  made ; but  the  osmazome  in  these  beverages,  as  in 
those  already  considered,  constitutes  their  commercial 
and  their  real  value.  The  only  chemical  difference 
between  the  highest  and  the  lowest  priced  wines  con- 
sists in  the  bouquet,”  or  osmazome,  but  alcohol  is  the 
principle  for  which  these  beverages  are  universally 
demanded ; and  as  there  has  been,  and  is  still  to  some 
extent,  a difference  of  opinion  among  chemists  and 
physiologists  respecting  the  relation  of  this  principle  to 
the  human  system,  it  will  be  necessary  to  give  it  a 
careful  consideration.  (See  page  220.) 

Cocoa  and  Chocolate. 

The  chocolate  plant,  of  which  cocoa  is  the  seed,  is  a 
small  tree,  with  dark  green  leaves,  growing  in  Mexico, 
Caraccas,  Demerara,  and  other  places.  It  produces 


COCOA-NIBS. 


215 


an  elongated  fruit,  in  shape  like  a cucumber,  but  more 
blunt,  which  grows  from  the  stem  or  main  branches. 
The  seeds,  or  beans,  that  furnish  the  cocoa,  are  im- 
bedded in  the  fruit  in  rows,  in  a spongy  substance,  and 
are  about  fifty  or  sixty  in  each  fruit.  When  ripe,  the 
seeds  are  taken  out,  cleaned  and  dried.  The  best 
cocoa  is  made  from  seeds  shelled  and  roasted,  but 
inferior  cocoa  is  made  by  grinding  with  the  seeds  a 
part  of  the  shell.  Cocoa~nibs  are  made  from  seeds 
merely  roasted  and  crushed  after  being  shelled ; Cocoa- 
paste  is  the  seed  ground  down,  and  mixed  with  sugar; 
and  if  flavored  with  vanilla,  it  is  called  Chocolate. 

Cocoa  differs  from  tea  and  coffee  in  that  it  is  rich  in 
nutritious  food,  and  having  in  it  no  tannin  or  other 
deleterious  elements,  its  theobromine,  or  characteristic 
property,  being  connected  with  albumen  — a muscle- 
making element ; as  the  characteristic  element  of  tea, 
theine,  is  connected  with  tannin.  Containing  also  a 
large  share  of  butter,  and  four  per  cent,  of  phosphates, 
it  is  supplied  with  all  the  requisite  elements  of  food, 
and  to  those  who  like  its  flavor,  it  is  a very  agreeable 
and  useful  beverage,  having  all  the  advantage  of  tea 
and  coffee,  without  their  deleterious  qualities.  Its  nu- 
tritive elements  are,  however,  too  concentrated  to  agree 
with  very  delicate  stomachs,  as  may  be  inferred  from 
the  following  analysis.  One  hundred  parts  cocoa 
contain,  — 


216 


ANALYSIS  OF  COCOA. 


Water,  . . . 

5.0 

Albumen. 

20.0 

Theobromine, 

2.0 

Butter,  . . 

50.0 

Woody  fibre. 

4.0 

Gum, 

6.0 

Starch, 

7.0 

Red  coloring  mat- 

ter, . . . 

2.0 

Mineral  matter,  . 

4.0 

100.0  J 


^ Water,  . . . 5.0 

Nitrates,  . . . 22.0 

Carbonates,  . . 69.0 

Phosphates,  . . 4.0 

100.0 


One  pound  of  Cocoa-nibs,  or  two  pounds  of  Cocoa- 


paste,  contain,  — 

Water, . 0 350  gr. 

Nitrates  (Albumen  and  Gluten),  . . 3 oz.  85 

Theobromine, 0 140  gr. 


Alcohol. 

I have  already  adverted  to  alcohol  as  being  the  re- 
sult of  the  chemical  decomposition  of  sugar.  (See  page 
70.)  We  come  now  to  consider  and  establish  the  fact 
that,  though  sugar  and  alcohol  are  composed  of  the 
same  elements,  viz.,  hydrogen,  oxygen,  and  carbon, 
the  one  is  a useful  carbonaceous  food,  while  the  othei 
IS  a poison. 


ANALYSIS  OF  ALCOHOL. 


217 


Alcohol  is  sugar  disorganized  by  the  process  of  fer- 
mentation,  and  is  subject  to  the  same  law  as  phosphorus 
and  iron.  It  is  composed  of  carbon,  hydrogen,  and 
oxygen,  as  is  also  sugar,  from  which  it  is  made,  — 
elements  which  are  wanted  in  the  system,  as  well  as 
phosphorus  and  iron,  and  if  taken  into  the  stomach 
organized,  as  in  sugar-cane  or  beet,  are  all  gratefully 
received  and  easily  digested ; but  taken  in  a disorgan- 
ized state,  as  in  alcohol,  they  cause  immediate  excite- 
ment, by  the  efforts  of  all  the  organs  to  expel  them  as 
intruders. 

Let  us  see  how  nearly  alike,  chemically,  are  sugar 
and  alcohol,  and  the  change  effected  by  the  process  of 
fermentation. 

One  atom  of  sugar  contains,  — 

Carbon.  Hydrogen.  Oxygen. 

12  atoms.  12  atoms.  12  atoms. 

These  are  converted,  by  fermentation,  into  two  atoms 
of  alcohol,  containing,  — 

Carbon.  Hydrogen.  Oxygen. 

8 atoms.  12  atoms.  4 atoms, 

and  four  atoms  of  carbonic  acid  gas,  which  accounts  for 
the  lost  carbon  and  oxygen,  the  carbonic  acid  gas  con- 
taining, — 

Carbon.  Hydrogen.  Oxygen. 

4 atoms,  and  None.  8 atoms,  and 


8 


12  atoms. 


4 


12  atoms 


12  atoms. 


12  atoms. 


218 


LIEBIG’S  THEOKY. 


Thus  we  see  that  the  same  elements  are  found  in 
sugar  as  in  alcohol,  and  combined  in  the  same  propor- 
tions ; but  sugar,  being  organized  for  digestion,  is 
agreeable  to  the  natural  taste,  and  is  readily  appropri- 
ated as  carbonaceous  food,  while  alcohol,  being  disor- 
ganized, creates  a rebellion,  and  is  rejected  from  the 
system  as  an  intruder ; so  that  we  find  in  alcohol,  as  in 
the  preparations  of  phosphorus  and  iron,  the  elements 
are  agreeably  and  usefully  appropriated  by  the  system 
or  rejected  as  poisonous,  as  they  are  or  are  not  organ- 
ized in  Nature’s  own  laboratory.  And  this  considera- 
tion, it  would  seem,  should  forever  settle  the  question 
whether  alcohol  is  nutritious,  and  clearly  show  that 
vital  law  is  higher  than  chemical  law,  and  must  control 
it ; and  that  therefore  the  same  chemical  combinations 
of  elements  may  be  poisonous  or  nutritious  as  they  are 
or  are  not  subject  to  vital  law,  as  we  have  before  seen 
in  combinations  of  phosphorus  and  iron. 

Liebig’s  Theory  respecting  the  IVutritive  Qualities  of 
Alcohol. 

It  is  now  more  than  twenty-five  years  since  Liebig 
commenced  his  valuable  chemical  investigations  of  food, 
and  its  relations  to  the  human  system.  He  discovered 
that  some  elements  of  food  — carbon,  hydrogen,  &c. — 
were  appropriated  for  the  purpose  of  producing  heat, 
while  others  were  devoted  to  the  growth  and  strength 
of  the  muscles  ; and  finding  sugar  and  alcohol  both  to 
be  composed  of  these  carbonaceous  elements,  he  classed 


PROFESSOR  carpenter’s  OPINION. 


219 


them  together  as  heat-producing  articles  of  food ; and 
that  idea  has  since  been  adopted  by  many,  perhaps 
most  chemists,  and  some  physiologists ; but  I have  en- 
deavored to  show  (pages  37-41)  that  the  same  com- 
bination of  elements  may  be,  and  are,  nutritious  or 
poisonous  as  they  are  or  are  not  organized  by  the  pro- 
cess which  Nature  has  provided  ; and  that  while  sugar  is 
a valuable  principle  in  food,  alcohol  contains  no  power 
of  sustaining  life,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  produces  in 
the  human  system  "evil,  and  only  evil,  and  that  contin- 
ually ; ” and  this  I shall  endeavor  to  prove. 

Professor  Carpenter,  of  the  London  University,  has 
published  a book  on  physiology,  which  as  late  as  1860 
has  been  republished  in  Philadelphia,  edited  by  Profes- 
sor Francis  Guerney  Smith.  From  that  Physiology, 
which  is  now  the  standard  work  in  this  country  and 
England,  I copy  these  words  : — 

" It  may  be  safely  affirmed  that  alcohol  cannot  answer 
any  one  purpose  for  which  the  use  of  water  is  required 
in  the  system,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  it  tends  to  antag- 
onize many  of  those  purposes.” 

"Alcoholic  liquids  cannot  supply  anything  which  is 
essential  to  the  due  nutrition  of  the  system.” 

"The  action  of  alcohol  upon  the  living  body  is  essen- 
tially that  of  a stimulus,  increasing,  for  a time,  the 
vital  activity  of  the  body,  but  being  followed  by  a 
corresponding  depression  of  power,  which  is  the  more 
prolonged  and  severe  in  proportion  as  the  previous 
excitement  has  been  greater.” 

The  U.  S.  Dispensatory,  compiled  by  Professor 


220 


ALCOHOL  ONLY  A STIMULANT. 


Wood,  of  Philadelphia,  the  standard  work  on  that 
subject  in  the  United  States,  also  expresses  similai 
opinions  on  the  character  and  effects  of  alcohol.  Pro- 
fessor Bigelow’s  Materia  Medica,  the  standard  work 
when  I was  a member  of  Harvard  School,  expresses  a 
similar  opinion.  All  agree  that  alcohol  is  a stimulus 
which,  literally,  means  a goad^  a whip.  When  a 
horse  gets  stuck  with  a load  too  heavy  for  him,  we  use 
the  goad  or  whip  to  excite  the  muscles  to  take  the  load 
up  the  hill.  But,  when  once  up,  the  careful  driver 
will  be  sure  that  next  time  the  load  shall  be  lighter,  or 
the  horse  made  stronger  with  oats.  What  should  we 
say  to  the  teamster  who  persisted  in  the  opinion  that 
the  whip  afforded  nourishment  to  the  horse  because  he 
could  be  made  to  draw  a heavier  load  by  whipping, 
and  therefore  persisted  in  whipping  him  more  severely 
as  his  strength  became  exhausted?  But  if  this  is  not 
the  position  of  those  who  think  that  alcohol  is  nutri- 
tious I cannot  understand  them. 

Is  alcohol  useful  in  promoting  digestion^  or  in  con- 
mmption  or  general  debility  ? > 

Keeping  in  mind  the  fact  that,  upon  the  highest 
medical  authority  alcohol  is  only  a stimulant,  I have 
no  difficulty  in  determining  how  far  alcohol  is  useful 
and  how  far  injurious. 

I have  sat  by  the  bedside,  and,  watching  the  sinking 
pulse,  and  fearing  lest  Nature  might  not  be  able  to 
carry  the  load,  have  put  in  the  goad,  and  in  three  min- 
utes have  felt  the  circulation  rise ; but  in  a few  minutes 
more  it  would  sink  again,  and  the  stimulant  must  be 


DR.  bell’s  opinion. 


221 


rf  :aewed,  or  it  would  sink  lower  than  before.  By  care- 
ful watching  and  spurring  I have  kept  up  the  heat  and 
circulation  till  a little  nourishment  could  be  digested, 
and  perhaps  the  patient  saved.  But  this  is  all  the  use 
I have  ever  made  of  alcohol  as  a medicine. 

To  whip  and  spur  poor  human  nature  all  the  way 
down  through  consumption  to  the  grave,  increasing  the 
stimulus  at  every  step  as  nature  flags,  seems  to  me 
absurd,  cruel,  and  unphilosophical  in  the  extreme.  If 
stimulants  should  be  thus  applied  to  a jaded  horse,  its 
owner  would  be  tried  for  cruelty  to  his  beast ; and  yet 
there  are  said  to  be  hundreds  and  thousands  of  men, 
women,  and  even  children,  now  subjected  to  a similar 
mode  of  treatment  in  Boston  and  vicinity. 

In  an  essay  which  obtained  the  prize  of  two  hundred 
dollars,  and  which.  Dr.  Churchill  says,  displays  great 
research  upon  the  subject  of  the  effects  of  alcohol.  Dr. 
Bell  comes  to  the  following  conclusions  : — 

" 1.  The  opinion  so  largely  prevailing  as  to  the 
effects  of  the  use  of  alcoholic  liquors,  viz.,  that  they 
have  a marked  influence  in  preventing  the  deposition 
of  tubercle,  is  destitute  of  any  foundation. 

" 2.  On  the  contrary,  their  use  predisposes  to  tuber- 
cular deposition. 

'^3.  Where  tubercle  already  exists,  alcohol  has  no 
effect  in  modifying  the  course  usually  run  by  that  sub- 
stance. 

"4.  Neither  does  it  mitigate  the  morbid  effects  of 
tubercle  upon  the  system  in  any  stage  of  the  disease.” 

Professor  AVood,  in  his  Dispensatory,  says  the 


222 


DR.  Bigelow’s  opinion. 


■j  habitual  use  of  alcoholic  drinks  produces  deplorable 
consequences.  Carpenter’s  Physiology  says  the  physio- 
logical objection  to  the  habitual  use  of  even  quite  small 
quantities  of  alcoholic  drinks  rests  upon  the  following 
grounds  : ” They  are  universally  admitted  to  possess  a 

poisonous  character.”  ” They  tend  to  produce  a morbid 
condition  of  the  body  at  large.”  ''  The  capacity  for 
enduring  the  extremes  of  heat  or  cold,  or  mental  or 
bodily  labor,  is  diminished  rather  than  increased  by 
their  habitual  employment.” 

In  a lecture  of  Professor  Jacob  Bigelow,  in  1825, 
he  used  the  following  words,  which  I recorded  at  the 
time : — 

"Alcohol  is  highly  stimulating,  heating,  and  intoxi- 
cating, and  its  effects  are  so  fascinating  that,  when  once 
experienced,  the  danger  is  that  the  desire  for  them  may 
be  perpetuated.”  " Many  patients  have  become  grad- 
ually and  imperceptibly  intemperate  under  the  sanction 
and  guidance  of  a physician.” 

How  often  has  my  heart  been  saddened  by  witness- 
ins^  illustrations  of  Professor  Jacob  Bio;elow’s  statement 
concerning  patients  being  led  to  intemperance  by  the 
guidance  of  their  physician.  Not  long  since  an  inter- 
esting lady,  not  thirty  years  old,  came  to  me  for  advice. 
She  had  been  subject,  for  two  or  three  years,  to  terrible 
internal  cramps  from  indigestion,  and  was  advised  by 
her  pliysician  to  take  gin.  At  first  she  only  took  it 
when  the  cramps  occurred,  and  it  relieved  her,  but 
soon  she  took  it  to  prevent  their  recurrence,  and  it 
Keemed  for  a time  to  succeed ; but  as  she  never  knew 


AN  EXAMPLE. 


223 


wlien  the  pains  were  coming,  she  never  knew  when 
to  stop  the  gin  : and  after  two  years  her  system  had 
become  so  accustomed  to  the  stimulus  that  no  quan- 
tity short  of  that  which  produced  actual  inebriation 
would  either  prevent  or  relieve  the  distress.  In  that 
condition  I found  her,  and  of  course  advised  to  break 
off  the  habit  at  once,  and  take  appropriate  remedies. 
In  two  days  she  returned,  and  said  she  had  had  no 
return  of  the  cramps,  but  felt  as  if  she  should  die 
unless  I allowed  her  gin,  or  a substitute.  I put  the 
case  as  it  plainly  stood.  She  must  break  away  from 
gin  then,  or  be  a slave  to  it  for  life.  She  braced  her- 
self up  to  the  resolution  — ”I  will  die  now,  sober, 
rather  than  live  to  be  a drunkard ; ” and  many  a time 
since  has  she  thanked  me  for  assisting  her  in  that  reso- 
lution. And  many  a similar  case  has  come  under  my 
observation,  only  differing  in  this,  they  never  w^ere 
able  to  break  away  from  the  snare  that  had  caught 
them. 

Is' alcohol  useful  hy  preserving  the  tissues^  and  thus 
increasing  the  term  of  life  ? 

There  may  be  a sense  in  which  this  question  may  be 
answered  in  the  affirmative,  but  it  seems  to  me  difficult 
to  conceive  a case  in  which  tissues  thus  preserved  would 
be  of  value  sufficient  to  pay  the  expense  of  the  process ; 
but  this  idea  having  been  recently  advanced  by  a 
learned  professor,  deserves  a passing,  though  not  a 
serious  notice. 

Professor  Yeomans,  of  New  York,  says,  "It  has 
oeen  demonstrated  that  alcoholic  drinks  prevent  the 


224 


PEOFESSOR  yeomans’s  OPINION. 


natural  changes  going  on  in  the  blood,  and  obstruct  the 
nutritive  and  reparative  functions.” 

Carpenter’s  Physiology  says,  "Alcoholic  drinks  dimin- 
ish the  waste  of  the  tissues.”  That  is,  alcohol  suspends 
the  action  of  the  whole  system,  brain  and  muscle,  and 
tends  to  bring  us  down  to  a state  of  torpidity,  like 
snakes  and  toads,  who  have  wonderful  powers  of  pre- 
serving their  tissues  by  masterly  inactivity.  The  pro- 
fessor did  not  prescribe  the  form  in  which  alcohol 
should  be  taken,  nor  the  regime  to  accompany  it  in 
order  best  to  succeed  in  preserving  the  tissues ; but, 
" holding  the  mirror  up  to  nature,”  I think  I can  see 
and  supply  the  deficiency. 

In  the  first  place,  you  should  sit  perfectly  still,  for 
every  motion  tends  against  the  preservation  of  the 
tissues  ; then  you  should  live  in  the  most  impure  air 
possible,  for  every  breath  of  air  containing  oxygen 
burns  up  the  waste  of  the  tissues,  and  counteracts  the 
siesired  infiuence ; and  then  you  should  keep  the  tissues 
well  preserved  in  lager  beer,  this  form  of  alcoholic 
drink  being  best  adapted  to  bring  us  into  a state  of 
torpidity. 

You  have  seen,  perhaps,  a toad,  a motley-faced, 
blubber-lipped  toad,  sitting  in  the  corner  of  the  garden, 
in  one  spot,  hour  after  hour,  and  day  after  day,  with 
just  energy  enough  to  wink,  and  to  catch  a fly  if  he 
comes  within  an  inch  of  his  nose  ; — a perfect  personifi- 
cation of  a bloated,  beer-drinking,  Pennsylvania  Dutch- 
man, who  will  sit,  it  is  said,  in  the  chimney-corner 
from  morning  till  night,  with  just  energy  sufficient  to 


HOW  ALCOHOL  PRESERVES  THE  TISSUES.  225 


raise  the  beer  to  his  lips,  and  to  call  for  more  when  his 
mug  is  empty.  How  long  he  can  succeed  in  preserv- 
ing his  tissues  has  not  been  fully  ascertained ; but  his 
prototype,  the  toad,  sometimes  succeeds  wonderfully. 
Before  a rain,  a toad  will  sometimes  muster  up  energy 
sufficient  to  crawl  up  into  the  fork  of  a tree,  and  there 
fill  his  big  mouth’  with  air,  and  blowing  it  through  his 
lips,  will  utter  a kind  of  trumpet  sound,  to  notify  us 
that  a rain  is  coming ; and  when  it  comes,  he  crawls 
under  the  rough  bark  in  the  fork  of  the  tree,  and  there 
waits  and  winks  till  the  rain  is  over.  Now  it  is  said  to 
have  happened  that,  waiting  too  long,  and  the  old  bark 
becoming  dry,  he  is  bound  in  and  can  never  get  out. 
Year  after  year  he  stays  there,  winking  in  summer  and 
suspending  his  work  in  the  winter.  Meantime  the  tree 
grows  over  him,  and  after  many  years,  perhaps,  is  cut 
down,  and  there  the  toad  is,  still  alive  and  winking. 

Now  this  is  not  exactly  an  illustration  of  the  power 
of  alcohol  to  preserve  the  tissues,  unless  the  toad  has 
the  power  of  manufacturing  his  own  alcohol  out  of  the 
carbon  and  hydrogen  with  which  he  was  all  the  time 
surrounded,  but  it  does  illustrate  the  condition  towards 
which  all  tissues  must  be  brought  to  be  preserved  by 
alcohol.  And  the  question  comes  up.  What  is  the  use 
of  such  tissues  ? What  is  a Dutchman  good  for  who 
does  nothing  but  drink  lager  beer?  Professor  Jack- 
son’s  cabinet  of  morbid  tissues  is  too  small  to  accom- 
modate him,  and  that  is  the  only  place  for  morbid 
tissues  preserved  in  alcohol. 

The  professor’s  predecessor  used  to  teach  us  that  it 

15 


226 


CARNARO. 


was  not  desirable  to  preserve  the  tissues ; that  the  more 
we  exercised  and  wore  out  the  tissues,  and  the  purer 
the  air  we  lived  in,  and  the  more  we  avoided  the  stupe- 
fying influence  of  alcohol,  the  oftener  the  tissues  would 
be  renewed,  and  the  more  healthy  and  useful  we  might 
become. 

The  only  argument  now  depended  on  to  prove  that 
alcohol  in  any  beverage  is  useful  to  the  system,  is 
founded  on  experience,  and  experience  in  this  case,  as 
in  all  others  in  which  there  is  no  careful  observation, 
is  merely  " the  post  hoc  ergo  propter  hoc  error  ” which 
imputes  the  cause  of  everything  to.  that  which  comes 
just  before  it.  This  was  the  reliance  in  the  recent 
struggle  in  the  Massachusetts  legislature  to  establish 
the  character  of  alcohol  for  usefulness  as  nutriment, 
and  the  eminent  counsel  referred  to  the  extraordinary 
case  of  Carnaro,  who  lived  fifty-eight  years  on  twelve 
ounces  of  solid  food  and  fourteen  ounces  of  light  wine 
each  day,  and  he  quotes  Professor  Lewes  as  saying, 
” he  wonders  that  intelligent  men,  in  view  of  such 
facts,  can  doubt  that  alcohol  is  nutritious.”  The  wine 
which  Carnaro  drank,  as  indeed  all  other  sugared  alco- 
holic beverages,  contained  excellent  aromatic  nourish- 
ment. Why  then  impute  the  results  to  alcohol,  of 
which  in  light  wine  there  is  but  very  little?  All  we 
can  say  in  favor  of  the  little  alcohol  in  light  wines  is, 
that  it  would  probably  do  no  harm,  as  the  stomach 
may  become  accustomed  by  habit  to  the  presence  not 
only  of  alcohol  in  moderate  quantities,  but  other 
poisons,  as  opium,  tobacco,  and  even  arsenic,  so  as 


ALCOHOL.  NOT  NUTRITIOUS. 


227 


ko  digest  food  and  perform  its  functions  in  spite  of 
them,  and  those  who  take  these  poisons  may  live  per- 
haps as  long  as  Carnaro ; but  does  that  prove  that 
opium  and  arsenic  are  nutritious?  I once  heard  of  a 
farmer  who  claimed  that  sawdust  and  Indian  meal 
would  fatten  hogs,  for  he  had  tried  the  mixture ; but 
when  asked  what  proportions  were  best  adapted  to  the 
fattening  process,  he  said  he  thought  the  less  sawdust 
and  the  more  meal  the  better. 

Let  two  starving  men  have  nothing  but  alcohol  and 
water,  and  let  one  drink  the  pure  water  and  the  other 
a mixture  of  alcohol  and  water,  and  the  water  drinker 
will  live  the  longest  — the  experiment  has  been  tried 
many  a time,  accidentally  on  man,  and  for  the  sake  of 
experiment  on  other  animals. 

The  opinion  of  Liebig,  that  ” alcohol  is  burnt  in  the 
lungs,  giving  off  carbonic  acid  and  water,  and  serving 
to  support  the  temperature  of  the  body,”  is  proved  to  a 
demonstration  to  be  wrong.  All  arctic  explorers  con- 
cur in  the  opinion  that  alcohol  has  a decidedly  injurious 
effect  on  men  exposed  to  the  cold. 

Sir  John  Ross  testifies  that  he  experienced  in  his  own 
person  the  beneficial  effects  of  abstaining  wholly  from 
spirituous  drinks,  and  he  proposed  to  his  men  that  they 
should  try  the  same  experiment,  which  was  done  with 
very  gratifying  results.  He  says,  When  men  under 
hard  and  steady  labor  are  given  their  usual  allowance 
or  draught  of  grog,  or  a dram,  they  become  languid 
and  faint,  losing  their  strength  in  reality,  while  they 
attribute  that  to  the  continuance  of  their  fatiguing 


228 


ALCOHOL  WILL  NOT  FUENISH  HEAT. 


exertions.  He  who  will  make  the  corresponding  expe- 
riments on  two  equal  boats’  crews,  rowing  in  a heavy 
sea,  will  soon  be  convinced  that  water-drinkers  will  far 
outdo  the  others.” 

Rev.  W.  Scoresby,  before  a committee  of  the  House 
of  Commons,  testified  as  follows : ” My  experience 

has  been  in  severely  cold  climates,  and  there  it  is  ob- 
servable that  there  is  a very  pernicious  eflPect  in  the 
reaction  after  the  use  of  ardent  spirits.  I did  not  use 
them  myself,  and  I was  better,  I conceive,  without  the 
use  of  them.  I am  well  assured  that  such  beverages 
as  tea  and  coffee,  or,  I doubt  not,  milk  and  water,  are 
in  every  way  superior,  both  for  comfort  and  health, 
for  persons  exposed  to  the  weather,  or  other  severity. 
Spirits  are  decidedly  injurious  in  cold  climates.  The 
men  who  have  been  assisted  by  such  stimulants,  have 
been  the  first  who  were  rendered  incapable  of  duty: 
They  became  perfectly  stupid,  skulked  into  different 
parts  of  the  ship  to  get  out  of  the  way,  and  were  gen- 
erally found  asleep.  In  case  of  a storm,  or  other 
sudden  difficulty,  I should  most  decidedly  prefer  the 
water-drinkers  to  those  who  were  under  the  infiuence 
of  any  stimulant.” 

Dr.  Rush  says,  in  his  ” Medical  Inquirer,”  "There 
cannot  be  a greater  error  than  to  suppose  that  spirituous 
fiquors  lessen  the  effects  of  cold  on  the  body.  On  the 
contrary,  they  always  render  the  body  more  liable  to 
be  affected  and  injured  by  cold.  The  temporary 
warmth  they  produce  is  always  succeeded  by  chilli- 


ness. 


EXAMPLES. 


229 


Backus  gives  some  striking  facts  illustrating  this 
point,  which  I will  quote.  "In  the  winter  of  1796,  a 
vessel  was  wrecked  on  an  island  off  the  coast  of  Massa- 
chusetts. There  were  seven  persons  on  board.  Five 
of  them  resolved  to  quit  the  ship  during  the  night,  and 
seek  shelter  on  the  shore.  To  prepare  for  the  attempt, 
four  of  them  drank  a quantity  of  spirits,  and  the  fifth 
drank  none.  They  all  leaped  into  the  water  : one  was 
drowned  before  reaching  the  shore ; the  other  four 
came  to  land,  and,  in  deep  snow  and  piercing  cold, 
directed  their  course  to  a distant  light.  All  that  drank 
spirits  failed,  and  stopped,  and  froze,  one  after  another; 
the  man  that  drank  none  reached  the  house,  and  about 
two  years  ago  was  still  alive.” 

"A  few  years  ago  a brig  from  Russia,  laden  with  iron, 
ran  aground  upon  a sand  bank  near  Newport,  Rhode 
Island.  The  master  was  desirous  to  unload  and  get  her 
off.  The  weather,  however,  was  extremely  cold,  and 
none  could  be  found  to  undertake  the  task,  as  the 
vessel  was  at  a distance  from  the  shore,  covered  with 
ice,  and  exposed  to  the  full  effects  of  the  wind  and 
cold.  A packet-master  of  Newport,  who  abstained 
from  the  use  of  spirituous  liquors,  at  length  engaged 
to  unload  the  brig,  and  procure  his  men  to  do  the 
work.  Six  men  were  employed  in  the  hold,  which 
was  full  of  water.  They  began  to  work  with  the  free 
but  temperate  use  of  ardent  spirits,  supposing  they 
would  need  it  then  if  ever ; but  after  two  hours’  labor 
they  began  to  give  out,  chilled  through.  After  having 
warmed  and  refreshed  themselves,  they  proceeded  to 


230  ALCOHOL  WOESE  THAN  NOTHING  IN  THE  COLD. 


make  another  attempt,  using  cider  only  through  the 
day.  They  now  succeeded  better,  but  still  suffered 
much  from  the  effects  of  the  cold.  On  the  second  day 
the  men  consented  to  follow  the  direction  of  their  em- 
ployer, and  drank  nothing  but  milk  porridge,  made 
rich,  and  taken  as  hot  as  the  stomach  would  bear  it. 
Although  the  weather  was  equally  as  severe  as  before, 
they  were,  after  this  change  in  their  diet,  enabled  to 
continue  their  work  from  four  to  seven  hours  at  a time, 
and  then  come  up  from  it  not  at  all  chilled.  With  this 
same  beverage,  handed  round  every  half  hour,  they 
continued  their  work  from  day  to  day,  with  not  one 
drop  of  intoxicating  liquor,  until  the  iron  was  all 
handed  out  and  brought  on  shore.  Not  one  of  them 
had  a finger  frozen.” 

” In  the  winter  of  1825  two  vessels  were  coming  into 
the  harbor  of  New  York  during  an  extremely  inclement 
night,  the  temperature  being  several  degrees  below  the 
freezing  point.  The  captain  of  one  of  these  vessels 
supplied  his  crew  with  warm  alcoholic  drinks  during 
their  exposure,  while  that  of  the  other  dealt  out  nothing 
but  hot  coffee  to  his  men.  The  result  was,  that  on 
arriving  next  morning,  a large  proportion  of  the  crew 
of  the  former  vessel  were  severely  frost-bitten,  while 
that  of  the  other  wholly  escaped,  not  a single  man 
having  suffered  any  injury  from  the  cold.”  These  facts 
were  published  in  the  New  York  papers  at  the  time, 
und  are  within  the  recollection  of  many  of  our  readers 
(See  Appendix  to  American  edition  of  J.  Pereira’s 
Treatise  on  Food  and  Diet.  Appendix  by  C.  8.  Dee.) 


ALCOHOL  INJUEES  THE  STOMACH. 


231 


That  alcohol  se  is  not  nourishing,  but  poisonous, 
I have  never  known  questioned  except  where  some 
point  is  to  be  made,  as  in  the  late  struggle  for  a license 
law  in  the  Massachusetts  legislature. 

Professor  Yeomans,  of  New  York,  in  a very  able 
paper  on  Alcohol  and  the  Constitution  of  Man,  says. 
Chemical  experiments  have  demonstrated  that  the 
action  of  alcohol  on  the  digestive  fluid  is  to  destroy 
its  active  principle,  the  pepsin,  thus  conflrming  the 
observations  of  physiologists,  that  its  use  gives  rise  to 
the  most  serious  disorders  of  the  stomach,  and  the  most 
malignant  aberrations  of  the  entire  economy.” 

” It  is  evident  that,  so  far  from  being  the  conservator 
of  health,  alcohol  is  an  active  and  powerful  cause  of 
disease,  interfering  as  it  does  with  the  respiration,  the 
circulation,  and  the  nutrition ; nor  is  any  other  result 
possible.”  " Nothing  can  be  more  certain  than  that  it 
is  a powerful  antagonist  of  the  digestive  process.”  "It 
prevents  the  natural  changes  going  on  in  the  blood.” 
"It  impedes  the  liberation  of  carbonic  acid,  a deadly 
poison.”  " It  obstructs  the  nutritive  and  reparative 
functions.”  "It  produces  disease  of  the  liver.”  "It 
has  a powerful  affinity  for  the  substance  of  the  brain, 
being,  indeed,  essentially  a brain  poison.”  If  these 
effects  do  not  prove  alcohol  poisonous,  where  shall  we 
look  for  proof  that  any  substance  is  poisonous?  But 
experiment  can  never  settle  this  question,  nor  any  other 
question  pertaining  to  vital  chemistry.  He  who  made 
man  and  knows  hoM  to  keep  him  in  repair,  has  plainly 


232  ALCOHOL  NEVER  USEFUL  IN  ITSELF. 


given  us  laws  of  nutrition,  and,  as  in  all  other  impor- 
tant matters,  has  fixed  a penalty  for  the  breach  of  His 
laws. 

If  alcoholic  drinks  are  useful  then,  they  are  useful 
not  on  account  of,  but  in  spite  of,  the  alcohol  contained 
in  them,  and  are  useful  in  proportion  as  sugar,  starch, 
and  other  nutritious  principles,  together  with  osmazome, 
predominate  over  alcohol ; and  thus  we  have  a standard 
by  which  to  test  the  value  of  alcoholic  drinks.  That 
article  is  best  which  contains  the  most  agreeable  osma- 
zome and  the  least  alcohol,  the  elements  of  nutriment 
being  of  little  consequence,  unless,  as  sometimes  hap- 
pens, the  stomach  will  receive  nutriment  through  the 
medium  of  aromatic  beverages  better  than  in  any  other 
combination.  This,  however,  in  my  experience  and 
observation  in  a practice  of  forty  years,  is  never  only 
a temporary  expedient,  and  in  cases  of  extreme  debil- 
ity, which  give  place  to  more  substantial  nutriment, 
containing  no  alcohol,  the  moment  the  digestive  powers 
so  react  as  to  be  able  to  bear  them.  It  may  therefore 
be  desirable  to  have  an  analysis  of  the  wines  and  other 
beverages  in  common  use. 


ANAX.YSIS  OF  WINES, 


233 


Wines. 


European  wines,  in  one  imperial  pint,  contain,  aC" 
Dording  to  Lankester,  — 


Port,  . . . 

Water. 

16  oz. 

Alcohol.  Sugar. 

4 oz.  1 oz.  2 grs. 

Tartaric  Acid. 

80  grs. 

Brown  Sherry, 

15J  oz. 

41  oz.  360  grs. 

90  grs. 

Pale  Sherry, 

16  oz. 

4 oz.  80  grs. 

70  grs. 

Claret, 

18  oz. 

2 oz.  — 

161  grs. 

Burgundy,  . 

171  oz. 

21  oz.  — 

160  grs. 

Hock, 

17|  oz. 

2^  oz.  — 

127  grs. 

Moselle,  . 

18^  oz. 

1|  oz.  — 

140  grs. 

Champagne, . 

17  oz. 

3 oz.  1 oz.  133  grs. 

90  grs. 

Madeira, . 

16  oz. 

4 oz,  400  grs. 

100  grs. 

These  wines  are  prepared  from  the  juice  of  the 
grape  by  direct  fermentation.  The  juice  before 
fermenting  is  called  ^'must.”  Wines  vary  according 
to  the  flavor  of  the  grape  from  which  they  are 
made,  the  sugar  and  acid  they  contain,  and  the  degree 
of  fermentation  by  which  the  sugar  is  changed  into 
alcohol.  Those  with  much  sugar  are  called  "sweet” 
wines ; those  with  little,  dry  wines.  To  some  wines 
sugar  is  added  to  correct  their  acidity  ; others  are  sweet 
because  fermentation  has  not  exhausted  the  natural  su- 
gar. On  the  degree  of  fermentation  also  depends  the 
amount  of  alcohol.  To  Port  Wine,  Sherry,  and  Ma- 
deira, alcohol  is  added  to  give  them  strength ; but  not 


234 


SPIRITUOUS  BEVERAGES. 


to  Claret,  Hock,  and  the  light  wines  from  Europe* 
The  acid  in  grape  wines  is  the  tartaric,  which  forms 
an  insoluble  salt  that  collects  on  the  wine-casks ; and 
is  the  source  of  our  cream  of  tartar  and  tartaric  acid. 
Wines  from  apples  are  called  cider,  and  those  from 
pears  are  called  perry ; each  having  its  distinctive  taste 
from  the  osmazome  of  its  own  fruit. 


Analysis  of  Distilled  Spiritnons  Beverages. 


Brandy,  . 

Water. 

. oz. 

Alcohol. 

10|^  oz. 

Sugar. 

80  grs. 

Gin,  best. 

. 12  oz. 

8 oz. 

— 

Gin,  retail,  . 

16  oz. 

4 oz. 

I oz. 

Rum,  . 

. 5 oz. 

15  oz. 

— 

Distilled  spirits  are  made  by  applying  heat  to  fer« 
mented  liquors,  and  collecting  the  alcohol  as  it  conden- 
ses in  cold  pipes  and  runs  back  into  a receiver.  Alcohol 
is  thus  obtained  from  molasses,  from  malt,  from  all  the 
grains  and  fruits,  and  also  from  potatoes  ; and  anything, 
indeed,  which  contains  either  starch  or  sugar,  can  be 
converted  by  fermentation  into  alcohol. 

As  it  is  employed  in  the  arts  in  its  concentrated  form, 
it  has  no  special  flavor,  and  is  then  called  ” Spirits  of 
Wine.” 

Gin  is  obtained  from  fermented  grain,  to  which  is 
added  the  berries  of  juniper,  which  give  its  characteristic 
flavor.  It  is  sometimes  flavored  also  with  cinnamon, 
cloves,  &c.,  and  is  then  called  ” Cordial”  or  "Cordial 
Gin.” 


BEEKS  AND  ALES. 


235 


Whiskey  is  distilled  from  grain,  mostly  in  this  coun- 
try from  corn,  and  obtains  its  flavor  from  fusil  oil,  which 
gives  it  a peculiar  smoky  taste. 

Rum  is  distilled  from  fermented  sugar  and  molasses, 
which,  very  frequently,  is  flavored  with  pine  apples.  In 
New  England  it  has  been  extensively  made  without  the 
flavor  of  pine  apples,  and  is  known  all  over  the  world  as 
New  England  Rum. 

Brandy  is  distilled  from  wine,  and  its  peculiar  taste 
is  imparted  by  the  essential  oil  of  the  fruit  from  which  it 
is  distilled.  This  taste  is,  however,  imitated  by  the  use 
of  sorrel  and  other  vegetables  that  contain  prussic  acid. 

Arrack  is  obtained  from  fermented  rice,  butternuts, 
and  the  sap  of  various  species  of  palm. 


Analysis  of  Beers  and  Ales, 


Water. 

Alcohol. 

Sugar. 

Acetic  Acid. 

London  Stout,  . 

18J  oz. 

oz. 

281  grs. 

54  grs. 

London  Porter, 

oz. 

1 oz. 

267  grs. 

45  grs. 

Pale  Ale,  . 

171  oz. 

21  oz. 

240  grs. 

40  grs. 

Mild  Ale,  . . 

18|  oz. 

oz. 

280  grs. 

38  grs. 

Strong  Ale, . . 

18  oz. 

2 oz.  < 

( 2 oz., 

\ 136  grs. 

^ 54  grs. 

The  above  analysis  of  beers  and  ales  is  made  from 
beverages  containing  no  elements  but  those  which  are 
derived  from  malt,  hops,  and  water,  the  alcohol  being 
obtained  from  starch,  which,  in  the  process  of  malting,  is 
changed  into  sugar,  and  then,  in  the  process  of  fermenta- 
tion, changed  into  alcohol,  the  sugar  also  coming  mostly 


236 


ACIDULOUS  DRINKS. 


from  starch,  but  partly  from  the  barley,  as  it  is  found 
there,  and  is  not  all  changed  to  alcohol  by  fermentation. 
The  color  and  flavor  of  the  different  beers  and  ales  is 
obtained  by  roasting,  more  or  less,  the  malt. 

Acidulous  Drinks  and  Fruits. 

That  vegetable  acids  perform  important  services  in 
the  human  system  is  evident  from  various  considera- 
tions. They  are  found  in  almost  all  fruits  and  vegeta- 
bles, and  all  nations,  savage  and  civilized,  make  con- 
stant use  of  them  in  some  form,  and  this  has  been  true 
in  ancient  as  well  as  modern  times.  Moses  speaks  of 
vinegar  as  being  in  common  use  in  his  day,  and  Boaz, 
smitten  by  the  charms  of  "the  Moabitish  damsel  that 
came  back  with  Naomi  out  of  the  country  of  Moab,” 
and  desirous  of  expressing  his  appreciation  of  her  kind- 
ness to  her  mother-in-law,  said  to  her,  "at  meal  time 
come  thou  hither  and  eat  of  the  bread,  and  dip  thy 
morsel  in  the  vinegar, (Euth  ii.  14.)  This  universal 
appetite,  however,  only  goes  to  show  a demand  of  the 
system  for  some  acid,  but  it  does  not  prove  the  whole- 
someness of  vinegar  as  produced  by  the  process  of  fer- 
mentation, as  we  shall  see  on  further  investigation. 

It  has  been  clearly  proved  by  repeated  experiments 
that  some  vegetable  acid  is  necessary  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  health,  or,  at  least,  that  the  complete  abstinence 
from  succulent  vegetables  or  fruits,  or  their  preserved 
|uices,  is  the  cause  of  scurvy  — a disease  which  nothing 
will  cure  but  the  vegetable  acids. 


VINEGAR. 


237 


It  is  also  proved  that  acids  that  are  organized  in  fruits 
and  vegetables  are  much  more  efficient  in  preventing  or 
curing  scurvy  than  acetic  acid  (vinegar,)  or  any  other 
acid  not  thus  naturally  combined  with  esculent  princi- 
ples ; indeed,  it  is  certain  that  some  such  organized 
combinations  are  necessary  either  to  prevent  or  to  cure 
scurvy ; and  I think  it  is  evident  further  that  an  abun- 
dance of  these  acids  are  furnished  in  organized  food,  so 
that  if  we  took  every  day  apples  or  other  fruits,  either 
green  or  preserved  by  desiccation,  or  exclusion  from 
the  air  as  in  canned  fruits,  or  ate  with  our  meats  every 
day  plenty  of  potatoes,  squashes,  or  other  vegetables, 
we  should  need  no  vinegar,  or  any  disorganized  or  con- 
centrated acids.  But  with  a diet  deficient  in  these  sub- 
acid and  succulent  principles,  vinegar  is,  to  some  extent, 
beneficial. 

Vinegar,  like  alcohol,  is  the  product  of  fermentation, 
and,  like  alcohol,  comes  also  from  the  same  element. 
Sugar  and  starch,  and  everything  that  contains  sugar 
or  starch,  will,  by  a fermentation  called  the  vinous  fer- 
mentation, produce  alcohol,  and  by  a second  or  acetous 
fermentation  the  same  material  will  produce  vinegar. 
At  first  sight  we  seem  to  have  here  an  exception  to  the 
law,  which  I have  elsewhere  described,  which  makes  all 
substances  which  are  disorganized  poisonous,  in  order 
to  protect  the  system  from  their  deleterious  influences  ; 
but  the  exception  is  only  apparent,  and  goes  to  illus- 
trate still  further  the  design  of  nature  in  making  such 
elements  only  poisonous  as  are  injurious  if  they  could 
be  admitted  into  the  system.  Vinegar  is  not  admitted 


238 


VESTEGAR. 


into  the  system  as  a principle  to  supply  any  organ  with 
nutrition,  or  to  furnish  heat;  but  only  as  a chemical 
agent,  to  combine  with  the  alkalies  evolved  from  the 
liver  and  other  excretory  organs,  to  eliminate  these  effete 
elements  from  the  system,  and  thus  purify  the  blood 
and  cleanse  the  system  from  the  impurities  which  would 
otherwise  remain  in  it.  Vinegar,  therefore,  is  merely 
a chemical  agent,  and,  as  such,  useful  in  the  absence  of 
natural,  organized  acids,  and  not  a nutritive  principle ; 
but  alcohol  is  neither  a chemical  agent  in  the  system  nor 
a nutritive  principle  — the  one  being  useful  is  received, 
if  taken  in  proper  quantities,  without  exciting  the  sys- 
tem to  reject  it,  while  the  other,  having  no  useful  pur- 
pose to  subserve,  produces  an  excitement,  and  is  expelled 
as  an  intruder.  Still,  vinegar  is  not  an  organized  ele- 
ment, and  not  harmless. 

Vinegar,  therefore,  is  not  necessary,  and  not  useful 
as  a beverage  or  a condiment,  except  in  cases  where 
the  organized  acids  are  not  to  be  obtained,  and  cannot 
take  the  place  of  them  either  as  a preventive  or  curer 
of  disease.  The  liberal  use  of  lemon  juice,  or  tomatoes, 
or  any  other  organized  acid  fruits  will  prevent  the  scur- 
vy for  an  indefinite  period,  as  has  been  proved  on  sailors 
in  very  long  voyages  ; but  we  have  abundant  testimony 
that  on  similar  voyages  the  liberal  use  of  vinegar  will 
not  prevent  this  terrible  disease.  These  experiments 
show  that  vinegar  is  not  the  form  of  acid  naturally 
adapted  to  the  requirements  of  the  system,  and  that  it 
should  only  be  used  when  the  acid  fruits  and  succulent 
vegetables  cannot  be  obtained. 


VINEGAR. 


239 


The  best  vinegar  in  this  country  is  obtained  fiom  the 
cider  of  apples,  and  in  farming  communities  each  house- 
holder makes  his  own  vinegar  by  exposing  a barrel 
partly  filled  with  cider  to  the  sun  and  open  air ; fer- 
mentation is  started  by  a little  of  the  mucilaginous  coat 
or  skin  which  forms  on  the  surface  of  vinegar,  called 
'"mother,”  and  which  consists  of  myriads  of  exceeding 
minute  vegetables,  in  which  are  generated  the  micro- 
scopic animalcules  called  eels,  which  may  be  the  cause  of 
some  of  our  obscure  diseases ; at  least,  there  is  no  evi- 
dence that  the  heat  of  the  stomach  or  the  gastric  juice 
is  capable  of  destroying  them ; and  no  heat  short  of 
boiling  water  will  kill  any  animalcule,  and  we  seldom 
use  vinegar  except  on  cold  food.  There  is  evidence 
that  some  animalcules  are  capable  of  resisting  the  gastric 
juice,  and  of  living,  and  growing,  and  producing  many 
troublesome  diseases  in  the  stomach  and  intestine  canal. 
It  is  at  least  safest,  therefore,  to  depend  for  our  neces- 
sary acids  on  the  fruits  and  vegetables,  of  which  we  can 
always  procure  an  abundance  at  an  expense  vastly  less 
than  that  of  the  superabundant  carbonates  which  we 
waste  in  using  flour,  sugar,  and  butter,  which  are  not 
only  wasted,  but  which  produce  a state  of  the  system 
iliat  maizes  these  acids  necessary.  If  we  should  give 
up  all  superfluous  carbonates,  therefore,  we  should  need 
no  vinegar,  as  all  necessary  acids  would  be  furnished 
in  the  food  that  would  naturally  take  the  place  of  these 
articles.  In  England,  vinegar  is  mostly  made  from 
malt  or  new  barley  subjected  to  acetous  fermentation, 
which  produces  the  same  acid,  the  acetic,  as  that  of  the 


240 


VINEGAR. 


cider  vinegar ; but  to  give  it  life  and  character  a little 
Bulphuric  acid  is  allowed  in  England,  by  law,  to  be 
added.  This  is  much  more  injurious  than  acetic  acid, 
having  a stronger  affinity  for  many  elements  in  the  sys- 
tem, especially  for  the  lime  in  the  teeth,  than  acetic 
acid. 

Vinegar  in  large  quantities  is  known  to  be  injurious, 
and  in  the  long-continued  use  of  small  quantities ; by 
disturbing  the  functions  of  digestion  and  preventing  the 
proper  formation  of  chyme,  it  stops  the  supply  of  nu- 
triment, and  produces  paleness  and  wasting.  On  this 
account  it  is  in  repute  among  such  silly  young  ladies 
as  prefer  to  be  pale  and  sickly,  rather  than  rosy  and 
plump,  and  many  such,  by  its  constant  use,  succeed 
most  lamentably  in  reducing  themselves  to  their  own 
foolish  standard  of  beauty. 

The  following  case  is  quoted  from  Portal  by  Pereira  : 
''A  few  years  ago  a young  lady,  in  easy  circumstances, 
enjoyed  good  health ; she  was  very  plump,  had  a good 
appetite,  and  a complexion  blooming  with  roses  and 
lilies.  She  began  to  look  upon  her  plumpness  with 
suspicion ; for  her  mother  was  very  fat,  and  she  was 
afraid  of  becoming  like  her ; accordingly  she  consulted 
a woman,  who  advised  her  to  drink  a small  glass  of 
vinegar  daily.  The  young  lady  followed  her  advice, 
and  her  plumpness  diminished.  She  was  delighted  with 
the  success  of  the  remedy,  and  continued  it  for  more 
than  a month.  She  began  to  have  a cough  ; but  it  was 
dry  at  its  commencement,  and  was  considered  as  a slight 
cold,  which  would  go  off.  Meantime,  from  dry  it  be- 


ACIDULOUS  FRUITS. 


241 


came  moist ; a slow  fever  came  on,  and  a difficulty  of 
breathing ; her  body  became  lean  and  wasted  away : 
night  sweats,  swelling  of  the  feet  and  legs  succeeded, 
and  a diarrhoea  terminated  her  life.  On  examination 
ah  the  lobes  of  the  lungs  were  found  filled  with  tuber- 
cles, and  somewhat  resembled  a bunch  of  grapes.’’ 

Now  that  fruits  can  be  so  well  kept  by  simply  can- 
ning them  and  excluding  the  air,  and  such  abundance 
and  such  a variety  of  fruits  are  now  produced,  we  can 
have,  at  an  expense  very  trifling  compared  with  their 
value,  all  the  acids  the  system  requires,  at  all  times  of 
year,  in  a form  at  the  same  time  agreeable  and  whole- 
some ; and  have,  therefore,  no  necessity  for  using  acid 
in  the  form  of  vinegar,  which  certainly  has  no  advan- 
tages over  fruits  and  vegetables,  and  which  has,  to  say 
the  least,  some  very  suspicious  characteristics  as  a sani- 
tary agent.  The  expense  of  one  of  the  half  dozen  bar- 
rels of  flour  which  almost  every  family  wastes  in  the 
year  would  do  much  towards  supplying  the  necessary 
acids  of  any  family,  if  judiciously  expended  in  pleasant 
sour  apples  or  good  ripe  tomatoes,  with  cans  or  bottles 
to  keep  them  in,  and  dried  apples  from  carefully  select- 
ed fruit.  Let  every  family  have  these  agreeable  acids 
on  their  table  every  day,  morning  and  noon,  during  the 
whole  season  in  which  the  summer  fruits  are  absent, 
and  let  every  member,  young  and  old,  eat  all  they  will, 
and  there  would  be  no  necessity  for  vinegar,  or  any 
other  objectionable  acid,  which  a morbid  appetite  only 
will  crave. 

Inquire  into  the  habits  of  the  school-girls  who  flock 

16 


242 


UNCOOKED  FRUITS. 


to  the  grocers  at  every  recess,  for  lemons,  pickled  limes, 
and  cucumbers,  and  you  shall  find  every  one  of  them 
living  on  fine  flour,  butter,  sweet  cakes,  and  confec' 
tionery,  with  no  natural  acids  to  eliminate  these  carbo- 
naceous principles  from  the  system ; or  if  they  do  have 
any  of  these  acid  fruits,  they  are  taken  with  the  last 
meal  at  night,  when  the  powers  of  digestion  are  ex- 
hausted, and  not  able  to  get  from  them  their  appropriate 
elements ; and  taken  then,  perhaps,  in  the  shape  of 
some  jelly,  between  two  layers  of  rich  cake,  the  car- 
bonaceous elements  of  which  are  more  than  sufficient 
to  counteract  any  benefits  that  might  be  derived  from 
the  acid. 

Fruit,  as  I have  elsewhere  explained  (see  page  211), 
and  in  fact  every  other  class  of  food,  is  most  whole- 
some in  the  condition  in  which  it  has  the  richest  and 
most  agreeable  flavor.  Fruits  have  the  best  flavor  un- 
cooked. There  may  be  some  exceptions,  in  which  the 
osmazome  is  best  developed  by  cooking,  of  which,  to 
my  taste,  the  tomato  is  an  example ; but  apples, 
peaches,  pears,  and  almost  all  the  fruits  and  berries, 
have  their  richest  flavor  developed  by  Nature’s  own  cu- 
linary process ; and  science  has  now  devised  so  many 
means  of  preserving  fruits,  and  all  other  articles  of  food, 
that  no  good  reason  can  be  given  why  we  may  nol , at 
all  times  of  year,  have  a constant  supply  of  natural 
acids  in  a variety  sufficient  to  satisfy  the  most  fastidious 
Pastes.  And  it  is  to  be  hoped  the  time  will  speedily 
come  when  all  fruits,  vegetables,  or  meats  preserved  in 
vinegar,  salt,  sugar,  smoke,  or  alcohol,  will  be  discarded 


NUTRIMENT  LOST  IN  COOKING. 


243 


as  being  unnatural  and  unwholesome  articles,  either  as 
necessaries  or  luxuries  of  life,  either  imparting,  as  they 
all  do,  injurious  elements,  or  chemically  changing  or 
withdrawing  the  nutritive  elements,  or  at  least  changing 
their  relative  proportions,  so  as  to  be  unfit  for  digestion. 


Elements  of  Food  Lost  in  Cooking. 

In  another  chapter  (page  16)  it  is  shown  that  food 
must  contain  three  classes  of  elements,  those  which  will 
feed  the  brain  and  nerves,  those  which  feed  muscles 
and  tissues,  and  those  which  furnish  heat  and  fat. 
These  elements  may  be  found  combined  so  as  to  be 
soluble  in  water,  cold  or  hot,  or  both,  and  therefore, 
if  cooked  in  water,  are  lost.  The  muscle-feeding  ele- 
ments of  all  meats  and  fish  consist  in  fibrin  and  albu- 
men (see  tables,  page  77),  and  in  the  flesh  of  all 
young  animals,  as  veal  and  lamb,  and  in  all  kinds  of 
fish  albumen  predominates. 

Albumen  is  soluble  in  cold  water,  but  coagulates 
and  becomes  solid  in  hot  water.  For  example,  the 
white  of  an  egg,  which  is  albumen,  may  be  dissolved 
and  lost  in  cold  water,  but  on  being  dropped  into  hot 
water  immediately  coagulates  and  becomes  insoluble. 
All  meats,  therefore,  lose  a portion  of  their  nutrition, 
and  some  a very  large*  portion,  by  being  soaked  in 
water,  or  by  being  put  into  cold  water  to  boil,  and  if 
boiled  at  all,  should  be  put  into  boiling  water,  unless 
the  water  in  which  they  are  boiled  is  to  be  saved  as 


244  NUTRIMENT  LOST  IN  COOKING  MEATS. 

soup.  In  that  case,  the  flavor  and  nutritive  properties 
of  the  soup  are  much  better  by  being  first  soaked  in 
cold  water  and  boiled  in  the  same  water. 

Besides  albumen,  other  valuable  elements  are  lost 
in  water,  whether  hot  or  cold,  as  is  shown  by  chemical 
analysis.  If  the  flesh  of  animals  or  fish  be  cut  up  fine, 
and  washed  and  filtered,  the  water  is  found  to  contain 
not  only  the  albumen,  but  the  osmazome  which  gives 
the  flavor,  the  phosphates  which  feed  the  brains  and 
the  nerves,  and  all  the  soluble  salts  of  the  blood, 
while  there  remains  nothing  nutritious  but  fibrin  and 
the  insoluble  salts,  which  constitute  the  basis  of  bones. 
By  boiling,  instead  of  roasting  or  frying  meats  or  fish, 
we  lose  therefore  that  which  gives  them  relish,  much  of 
the  true  nourishment,  and  some  other  valuable  elements. 

On  the  other  hand,  by  soaking  in  cold  water,  and 
boiling  gradually,  and  retaining  the  liquid,  we  get  all 
the  valuable  properties  of  meat.  The  liquid  contains 
all  the  soluble  properties,  and  indeed  all  the  important 
properties  necessary  for  sickly  or  sedentary  persons ; 
and  the  solids  contain  the  fibrin  and  lime  which  are 
wanted  for  muscular  power  and  strength  of  sinew  and 
bone.  Another  practical  error  in  regard  to  soups, 
relates  to  the  nutrition  in  the  gelatinous  portions  of 
Boup  obtained  from  the  cartilages  and  tendons  of  the 
joints  of  meat,  which  are  usually  selected  under  the 
impression  that  the  more  gelatinous  the  more  nutri- 
tious the  soup,  whereas  it  is  found  to  be  true  that  gela- 
tine is  in  no  sense  nutritious.  Its  only  use  in  the 
living  system  seems  to  be  mechanical,  forming  protec- 


PORTABLE  SOUP. 


245 


tion  to  the  joints  as  a kind  of  cushion,  and  attaching  the 
muscles  to  the  bones,  and,  as  food,  answering  as  waste 
material  to  keep  the  bowels  in  action.  This  is  true  of 
all  animal  jellies,  as  calf’s  foot,  isinglass,  &c. 

Portable  Soup,  or  Extract  of  Beef. 

Thirty-two  pounds  of  beef,  without  bone  or  fat,  if 
put  into  cold  water,  gradually  heated  and  boiled  for  a 
long  time,  and  finally  strained,  and  the  liquid  boiled 
down  to  dryness,  will  make  one  pound  of  true  extract 
of  beef,  containing  all  the  nutritive  properties  necessary 
for  one  who  is  sickly  or  sedentary.  One  ounce  of  this 
extract,  with  a little  salt,  will  make  a quart  of  soup  or 
beef  tea,  which  is  rich  and  palatable,  retaining  the 
natural  flavor  of  well-cooked  beef,  and  which  may  be 
otherwise  seasoned  to  suit  the  taste.  This  extract 
will  keep,  in  a dry  place,  for  an  indefinite  time,  and  if 
made,  as  it  may  be  and  is  in  the  Western  States  where 
beef  is  cheap,  need  not  be  very  expensive ; and  by  the 
saving  in  expense  of  transportion,  might  be  made  a 
profitable  way  of  disposing  of  beef. 

It  is  kept  by  almost  all  apothecaries,  and  if  it  could 
be  depended  on  as  genuine,  might  be  the  best,  surest, 
quickest,  and  most  economical  mode  of  supplying 
wholesome  animal  food  to  the  sick  and  feeble ; but 
uufortunately  a cheaper  and  far  inferior  article  is  sold 
under  the  same  name,  which  contains  only  enough  of 
die  genuine  extract  to  give  it  flavor,  all  the  rest  being 
gelatine,  which  contains  no  nourishment. 


246 


EXTRACT  OF  BEEF. 


The  genuine  may  be  known  from  the  spurious  arti- 
cle by  the  following  test : Of  the  pure  extract  about 
eighty  per  cent,  is  soluble  in  eighty-five  per  cent, 
alcohol,  while  that  made  from  gelatine  will  yield  to  that 
menstruum  only  from  four  to  five  per  cent. 

Portable  soup  might  be  used,  and  to  some  extent  is 
used,  for  provisioning  ships  on  long  voyages,  where 
fresh  meat  and  vegetables  cannot  be  had.  This  idea 
was  first  suggested  by  Professor  Liebig,  who  ascer- 
tained by  chemical  analysis  that  the  brine  in  which 
beef  is  salted  contains  the  soluble  constituents  of  the 
beef,  even  to  a greater  extent  than  concentrated  soups. 
Salted  beef,  therefore,  especially  after  it  is  boiled, 
contains  nothing  but  fibrin,  which  is  not  much  wanted 
in  sedentary  life,  as  that  of  a sailor  on  a long  voyage. 
With  such  meat  and  hard  bread  let  us  see  what  he 
gets  and  what  he  loses  of  necessary  elements. 

He  gets  in  the  meat  fibrin,  which  is  but  little  wanted 
while  inactive,  and  some  insoluble  salts,  as  phos- 
phate of  lime,  which  are  needed  also  only  in  proportion 
to  active  exercise,  and  in  the  hard-tack  he  gets  little 
but  starch,  which  contains  carbonates  for  breathing, 
but  almost  no  food  for  the  brain  and  nervous  system, 
and  none  of  the  acids  and  alkalies  that  are  necessary 
to  eliminate  the  impurities  from  the  blood  and  give 
life  and  activity.  The  system,  consequently,  becomes 
dormant  and  inactive,  and  filled  with  scorbutic  sores, 
and  other  diseases,  such  as  are  induced  by  food  desti- 
tute of  the  principles  found  in  fresh  meats  and  vege- 
tables, especially  if  used  without  taking  much  muscular 


exercise. 


HOW  TO  MAKE  BEEF  TEA. 


247 


Another  excellent  substitute  for  fresh  food  is  found 
in  desiccated  vegetables,  which  saved  many  a life  from 
diarrhoea  and  other  scorbutic  diseases  in  the  late  South- 
ern rebellion,  and  which  are  still  more  useful  at  sea, 
where  fresh  food  cannot  be  obtained*.  Of  these,  pota- 
toes are  best,  but  carrots,  turnips,  pumpkins,  and 
squash  are  all  good,  and  many  families  dry  them  for 
use  in  that  season  of  the  year  in  which  green  vegetables 
are  not  easily  kept  fresh. 


Beef  Tea, 

The  best  and  quickest  mode  of  preparing  nourishing 
beef  tea  is  to  chop  up  lean  beef  into  fine  pieces,  first 
broiling  it  lightly  to  develop  the  osmazome,  add  to  it  an 
equal  weight  of  cold  water,  slowly  heat  to  boiling,  and 
after  boiling  three  minutes  strain  and  season  to  taste. 
In  this  manner  the  elements  are  retained  and  the  nat- 
ural fiavor,  and  a soup  is  obtained  of  as  much  strength 
and  better  flavor  than  by  boiling  the  same  piece  of  meat 
for  hours. 

Acidulous  Drinks. 

The  juices  of  all  fruits,  and  some  vegetables,  contain 
acids  which  are  useful  in  eliminating  from  the  system 
various  alkaline  impurities,  by  combining  them  and 
making  them  soluble,  and  they  may  have  some  other 
uses  in  the  system  which  are  not  perfectly  understood ; 
but  they  never  enter  the  system  as  an  element  of  nutri- 
tion. but  seem  to  act  on  chemical,  or  perhaps  chemico- 


248  OXALIC  ACID. CITRIC  ACID. TARTARIC  ACID. 

vital  principles.  Different  fruits  contain  different  acids > 
as  malic,  oxalic,  tartaric,  citric,  &c.  but  so  far  as  is 
known  they  are  all  alike  useful. 

Oxalic  acid  exists  in  a number  of  plants,  as  common 

I 

sorrel,  wood  sorrel,  &c.,  but  the  only  plant  employed 
at  the  table  containing  this  acid  is  garden  rhubarb,  or 
pie-plant,  whose  leaf-stalks  are  used  for  tarts,  pud- 
dings, sauce,  &c.,  which  are  perfectly  wholesome,  not- 
withstanding the  fact  that  oxalic  acid  in  a disorganized 
state  is  very  poisonous  ; which  is  another  example  of  the 
princij)le  I have  endeavored  to  bring  out,  that  an  ele- 
ment may  be  wholesome  or  poisonous  as  it  is  or  is  not 
organized  in  some  veo:etable.  The  oxalic  acid  of  the 
shops  is  obtained  by  the  chemical  action  of  nitric  acid 
on  sugar  or  molasses,  changing  them  from  nutriment  to 
poison. 

Citric  acid,  — This  acid  is  a constituent  of  the  juice 
of  the  lemon,  the  orange,  the  lime,  the  citron,  the  shad- 
dock, and  otlier  fruits,  which  owe  their  sourness  to  tliis 
acid.  The  cranberry,  the  red  currant,  the  strawberry, 
the  raspberry,  the  cherry,  the  bilberry,  and  the  tama- 
rind also  contain  it,  mixed  with  an  equal  quantity  of 
malic  acid. 

Tartaric  acid.  — This  is  the  acid  of  grapes,  tama- 
rinds, and  pine-apples.  It  also  exists,  in  combinatioji 
with  potash,  as  bitartrate  of  potash,  or  cream  of  tartar, 
in  grapes,  tamarinds,  and  mulberries,  which,  collecting 
on  the  sides  of  the  cask  during  the  fermentation  of  wine, 
IS  termed  crude  tartar,  or  argol.  This  cream  of  tartar, 
and  tartaric  acid,  as  it  is  called,  when  purified  and  sepa- 


MALIC  ACID. 


249 


rated  from  the  potash,  is  much  used  as  a substitute 
for  the  juice  of  the  lemon,  and  if  it  be  not  disorgan- 
ized in  the  process  of  purification,  may  not  be  objec- 
tionable. 

Malic  acid^  or  acid  of  apples,  is  very  extensively 
distributed  in  the  vegetable  kingdom,  being  found  in 
apples,  pears,  quinces,  plums,  apricots,  peaches,  cher- 
ries, gooseberries,  currants,  strawberries,  raspber- 
ries, blackberries,  pine-apples,  barberries,  elderberries, 
grapes,  tomatoes,  tamarinds,  and  other  fruits,  and  is 
frequently  accompanied  with  citric  acid ; and  of  course 
it  is  the  acid  of  wine,  cider,  and  beer  in  an  unfermented 
state. 

These  acids  exist  in  most  of  the  fruits,  in  connection 
with  a principle  called  pectine,  which  means  coagulum, 
which  gives  them  the  property  of  becoming  gelatinous, 
or  of  making  jellies.  Jellies  may  be  made  of  currants 
(red,  white,  and  black),  apples  (both  sweet  and  sour), 
pears,  quinces,  plums,  apricots,  the  cucurbitaceous 
fruits  (as  melons  and  cucumbers),  gooseberries,  toma- 
toes, oranges,  lemons,  guava,  and  tamarinds.  The 
carrots,  turnips,  beets,  onions,  and  other  vegetables, 
also  contain  pectine  and  pectic  acid.  By  boiling  with 
malic  acid  pectine  is  changed  into  an  acid  that  is  solu- 
ble in  water,  and  the  vegetable  albumen  contained  in 
fruits  assists  also  in  making  the  change ; and  this  ex- 
plains why  the  juice  of  a fruit,  by  prolonged  ebullition, 
often  loses  its  property  of  gelatinizing  (or,  as  the  cooks 
gay,  why  it  will  not  come) . Another  reason  why  jelly 
will  not  come  is,  that  fruit  is  used  before  it  is  perfectly 


260  WHY  JELLIES  WILL  NOT  ALWAYS  COME. 


ripe.  Unripe  fruit  contains  very  little  pectine,  but  it  is 
formed  by  the  action  of  the  acids  on  the  pulpy  matter 
while  in  the  process  of  ripening ; and  if  the  fruit  be 
gathered  early,  this  process  goes  on  afterwards  till  it 
becomes  soft.  Currants,  for  example,  will  not  make 
jelly  when  they  first  turn  red.  It  is  then  that  the  pec« 
tine  begins  to  form,  and  this  formation  continues  till 
decomposition  commences.  Vegetable  jellies  afford  the 
means  of  making  agreeable  acidulous  drinks,  and  are 
useful  in  sickness.  They  afford  but  little  nourishment, 
but  are  not  objectionable. 

Animal  jellies,  as  calf’s-foot,  &c.,  are  nearly  worth- 
less, containing  no  nourishment,  and  no  flavor  except 
what  is  imparted  to  them  while  being  made. 

A.ceiio  acid^  as  I have  explained,  is  the  product  of 
fermentation.  It  is  not  found  in  any  sound  fruit,  and 
not  in  the  juices  of  any  of  them,  as  wine,  cider,  &c., 
till  they  have  first  undergone  the  process  of  vinous 
fermentation,  which  produces  alcohol,  and  the  acetous 
fermentation,  which  changes  the  alcohol  to  vinegar 
or  acetic  acid.  Whenever,  therefore,  fermentation  is 
prevented,  as  it  can  be  in  preserving  houses  such  as  have 
recently  come  into  use,  we  might  have  in  the  juices  of 
the  grape,  apple,  pear,  and  indeed  of  any  fruits  or  ber- 
ries, the  most  delicious  beverages,  containing  acids  in 
their  natural  state,  and  other  elements,  refreshing  and 
useful  both  in  health  and  sickness,  without  the  disorgan- 
^ed  and  unhealthy  principles  of  alcohol  and  vinegar. 

This  thought  has  not  before  suggested  itself  to  my 


HOW  TO  KEEP  UNFEliMENTED  WINES.  261 

mind  ; but  it  impresses  me  as  very  important  in  connec- 
tion with  the  use  of  the  preserving  house.  Let  us  ex 
amine  this  subject,  and  see  what  is  in  it. 

Fermentation. 

All  matter  is  under  the  control  of  vital  or  chemical 
laws.  While  life  continues,  either  in  animal  or  vegeta- 
ble matters,  vital  law  is  supreme,  but  when  life  ceases, 
chemical  law  assumes  control ; and  in  all  matter  that 
has  had  life  chemical  law  manifests  itself  in  fermenta- 
tion, either  vinous,  acetous,  or  putrefactive,  and  the 
conditions  in  which  these  chemical  changes  take  place 
are  the  same  in  each.  There  must  be  present,  and  in 
contact  with,  or  a part  of,  the  substance  to  be  fermented, 
oxygen,  hydrogen,  carbon  or  nitrogen,  or  both.  And 
these  must  be  in  an  atmosphere  above  a temperature  of 
32^,  and  to  have  the  process  go  on  with  any  degree  of 
lapidity  the  temperature  must  be  above  60*^. 

A well-constructed  preservator  prevents  the  presence 
of  oxygen  and  hydrogen,  and  keeps  down  the  tempera- 
ture almost  to  32^,  and  thus  three  of  the  conditions 
on  which  fermentation  depends  are  wanting ; and  ex- 
periment has  shown  that  it  effectually  prevents  the 
putrefactive  fermentation.  The  inference,  therefore, 
is  irresistible,  that  it  will  prevent  the  vinous  and  ace- 
tous fermentations.  Why  not,  then,  every  man  have  his 
cask  of  Catawba  or  Isabella  wine,  or  his  cider,  from 
the  most  fragrant  and  delicious  apples,  or  pears,  or  the 
juices  of  currants,  cherries,  gooseberries,  strawberries, 


252  HOW  TO  PKESEKVE  ALL  KINDS  OF  DRINKS. 


raspberries,  blackberries,  pine-apples,  peaches,  quinces, 
or  any  other  fruits?  and,  placing  each  in  his  preserva- 
tor,  with  an  arrangement  to  draw  tnem  through  the 
- side,  have,  the  year  round,  his  choice  of  fifty  different 
beverages,  all  of  which  would  be  delicious  and  whole- 
some, containing  in  their  natural  condition  the  acids 
which  the  system  requires,  without  the  addition  of  alco- 
hol, or  vinegar,  or  any  other  disorganized  or  deleterious 
elements  ? 


FOOD  IN  SICKNESS. 


253 


DIET  IN  SICKNESS. 

Having  examined  the  laws  that  are  to  guide  us  in 
the  selection  of  food  in  health,  for  the  different  condi- 
tions, employments,  and  temperatures  in  which  it  is  our 
lot  to  live,  let  us  now  see  if  there  may  be  considera- 
tions which  will  be  of  service  in  sickness. 

The  first  hint  in  regard  to  food  in  sickness,  we  have 
in  the  fact  that  the  appetite  is  taken  away,  which  is  a 
clear  intimation  that  food  will  no  longer  be  beneficial, 
but  injurious ; and  if  sudden  sickness  occur  while  the 
stomach  contains  food,  or  if  a serious  accident  occur, 
which  would  be  followed  by  inflammation.  Nature 
guards  against  the  evil  by  causing  the  stomach  to 
throw  off  the  food,  and  thus  stop  the  supply  of  nour- 
ishment that  would  keep  up  the  inflammation. 

A man  falls  on  his  head,  or  accidentally  receives  a 
blow  that  jars  the  brain,  or  a wheel  runs  over  his  foot 
and  criishes  it,  or  any  other  serious  accident  occurs, 
that  would  naturally  result  in  inflammation,  and  the 
first  efforts  of  Nature  for  protection  and  cure  are  seen 
in  vomiting,  which  relieves  the  stomach  of  all  food, 
and  thus  cuts  off  the  supply  of  blood  from  the  affected 
organ.  Can  we  have  a clearer  intimation  that  in  such 
cases  all  food  should  be  withheld  ? 

In  the  first  stage  of  any  serious  disease  we  have, 


254  NEVER  EAT  WITHOUT  AN  APPETITE. 


therefore,  no  question  of  duty,  and  can  see  the  absurdi- 
ty of  urging  sick  friends  to  eat,  when  food  is  not  only 
not  desired,  but  absolutely  loathed,  as  it  generally  is  in 
all  serious  illness ; and  we  find  that  such  advice,  if  fol- 
lowed, is  always  succeeded  by  evil  consequences. 

In  the  mean  time  there  is  generally  strong  thirst,  that 
is  best  satisfied  with  pure  cold  water ; and  this  also  is  a 
clear  intimation  that  pure  cold  water  is  the  best  thing, 
and  the  only  thing,  that  Nature  in  such  cases  requires  ; 
and  I have  never  seen  a case  in  which  the  slightest 
harm  came  from  ^gratifying  this  demand  to  the  fullest 
extent,  — not  by  filling  the  stomach  at  once,  especially 
with  very  cold  water,  but  by  gratifying  the  desire  in  a 
more  effectual  way : by  constantly  sipping  it,  however 
cold  it  may  be.  And  I have  indulged  many  a patient, 
and  have  found  great  advantage  in  keeping  up,  without 
five  minutes’  cessation,  the  cooling  infiuence  of  cold 
water  on  the  tongue  and  in  the  stomach. 

After  a time,  longer  or  shorter,  according  to  the  vio- 
lence of  the  fever.  Nature  becoming  exhausted,  demands 
a little  nutriment ; but  the  stomach  cannot  digest  food 
for  want  of  gastric  juice. 

Dr.  Beaumont  had  for  many  years  a young  man  who 
had  the  stomach  opened  by  a musket  shot,  which  carried 
away  the  surrounding  integuments  and  left  it  open  for 
inspection,  by  simply  raising  a kind  of  trap-door  made 
by  folds  of  the  integuments  that  remained.  This  gave 
him  an  opportunity,  which  no  other  physiologist  ever 
had,  of  witnessing  the  process  of  digestion  under  all 
circiumstances,  in  sickness  or  health,  and  noting  many 


NO  GASTRIC  JUICE  IN  FEVER. 


255 


phenomena  not  before  known  in  regard  to  the  use  of 
the  gastric  juice,  and  its  effects  on  different  substances, 
liquids  and  solids,  the  time  required  for  digesting  differ- 
ent articles,  the  first  process  of  digesting  liquid  nour- 
ishment, &c. 

Dr.  Beaumont  says,  ” In  febrile  diseases  very  little 
or  no  gastric  juice  is  secreted.  Hence  the  importance 
of  withholding  food  from  the  stomach  in  febrile  com- 
plaints. It  can  afford  no  nourishment,  but  is  actually 
a source  of  irritation  to  the  organ,  and  consequently  to 
the  whole  system.”  In  another  place  he  says,  ”The 
drinks  received  are  immediately  absorbed,  or  otherwise 
disposed  of,  none  remaining  in  the  stomach  ten  minutes 
after  being  swallowed.  Food  taken  in  this  condition 
of  the  stomach  remains  undigested  for  twenty-four  or 
forty-eight  hours,  or  more,  increasing  the  derangement 
of  the  whole  alimentary  canal,  and  aggravating  the 
general  symptoms  of  the  disease.”  The  first  process 
of  digesting  liquid  food  is  to  absorb  the  liquid  and 
leave  the  solid  in  the  stomach ; indeed,  both  liquid 
and  solid  food  is  digested  by  first  being  brought 
into  a semi-fluid  state.  If  too  liquid,  by  the  process 
just  described  of  carrying  off  the  liquid;  if  too  solid, 
by  bringing  into  the  stomach  from  the  system, 
less  they  are  supplied  from  without,  the  liquids  neces- 
sary. But  there  are  some  forms  of  nourishment  which 
are  absorbed  without  digestion,  and  go  directly  into  the 
system  to  supply  the  demands  of  nature.  Of  this  class 
of  nutritive  articles  in  common  use,  are  barley-water, 
toast-water,  beef-tea,  and  infusions  of  any  of  the  grains. 


256  THE  CALLS  OF  NATURE  TO  BE  REGARDED. 

In  all  of  these  articles  the  elements  abstracted  and  ap 
propriated  are  evidently  the  nitrates  and  soluble  phos 
phates,  the  carbonaceous  elements  not  being  soluble, 
and  the  only  carbonaceous  or  heat-producing  element 
that  seems  capable  of  being  directly  appropriated  to  the 
supply  of  heat  without  digestion  is  sugar. 

Here,  then,  we  have  a clear  indication  of  the  diet 
which  nature  requires  in  febrile  diseases  — and  these 
indications  are  corroborated  by  the  natural  appetite. 
At  first,  there  is  a loathing  of  everything  but  pure  cold 
water ; and  anything  but  cold  water,  even  barley- 
water,  is  disagreeable  to  the  stomach.  Then,  after  a 
while,  a little  barley  or  toast- water  is  agreeable  and 
refreshing ; and  then,  after  a little  longer  time,  the 
luscious  fruits  are  relished,  and  the  sugar  in  them  is 
appropriated,  without  taxing  the  digestive  powers,  to 
sustaining  the  necessary  heat,  and  checking  the  ab- 
sorption of  fat.  At  first  the  heat  is  supplied  from  the 
absorption  of  fat  from  the  system,  and  the  patient 
rapidly  loses  fat  and  becomes  emaciated,  the  adipose 
matter  of  the  body  being  absolutely  burned  up  to 
keep  up  the  heat  while  the  digestive  powers  are  pros- 
trated, and  unable  to  digest  the  farinaceous  food  on 
which  the  system  generally  depends.  After  a while 
the  gastric  juice  is  secreted  sufficient  to  digest  starch, 
which  next  to  sugar  is  the  most  digestible  carbonaceous 
food,  having  only  to  undergo  the  process  of  being  con- 
verted by  the  saliva  and  gastric  juices  into  sugar,  as  it 
always  must  be  to  be  prepared  to  supply  the  lungs  with 
fuel ; and  then  the  appetite  will  demand  gruel  made 


IN  SICKNESS  TAKE  WHAT  APPETITE  DEMANDS.  267 


from  some  of  the  farinaceous  grains,  and  thus  we  shall 
find,  by  watching  the  appetite,  that  it  will  call  for  the 
right  thing  at  the  right  time,  as  long  as  its  calls  are 
heeded ; but  if  physicians  or  nurses  act  on  their  own 
judgment,  and  give  farinaceous  food  before  the  system 
is  ready  for  it,  the  disturbance  and  flatulence  produced 
will  prevent  the  natural  calls,  and  we  lose  all  the 
advantage  of  the  natural  appetite.  Adopting  these 
ideas  more  than  twenty-flve  years  ago,  I have  never 
since  refused  a patient  a little  of  anything  which  the 
appetite  really  demanded,  even  to  the  most  indigestible 
substances,  as  cucumber,  dandelion  greens,  cheese, 
&c.,  and  have  never  seen  a case  in  which  they  were 
injurious  even  temporarily.  A careful  discrimination 
must,  however,  be  made  between  the  fltful  whims  by 
which  a perverted  appetite  will  by  turns  desire  a 
thousand  things,  and  lose  it  again  before  they  can 
be  obtained,  and  the  steady  desire  by  which  it  craves 
the  same  thing  hour  after  hour  and  day  after  day  if 
not  obtained,  and  judgment  must  always  be  used  in 
regard  to  the  quantity  given  at  first ; at  least  I have 
always  feared  the  consequences  of  indulging  the  appe- 
tite to  the  fullest  extent  after  long  abstinence,  but 
have  been  astonished  at  the  impunity  with  which  it 
may  be  indulged  for  any  particular  article  of  food, 
however  inappropriate  it  might  seem  to  be. 

I had  at  one  time  the  care  of  an  old  nurse  sick  with 
pneumonia,  and  so  sick  that  for  weeks  she  would  take 
scarcely  a particle  of  nutriment,  and  for  a long  time 
17 


258 


THE  APPETITE  IN  SICKNESS. 


was  reduced  so  low  as  not  to  be  expected  to  live  from 
one  day  to  another.  I told  her,  as  I had  frequently 
told  patients  of  whom  she  had  the  care,  to  take  a little 
of  anything  the  appetite  demanded,  but  gave  no 
particular  directions.  One  day,  after  an  abstinence 
from  food  for  nearly  four  weeks,  I found  her  de- 
cidedly better,  and  for  the  first  time  able  to  talk  and 
exhibit  her  usual  vivacity.  She  told  me  that  soon 
after  my  visit,  twenty-four  hours  before,  she  felt  a 
strong  desire  for  a cucumber  with  salt  and  vinegar, 
and  ordered  her  daughter  to  get  a good  large  one, 
which  she  ate  with  a feeling  that  it  was  just  the  thing 
required ; and,  not  being  satisfied  with  one,  she  ob- 
tained another,  and  another,  till  she  had  eaten  three  or 
four,  and  she  assured  me  she  felt  not  a pain  or  any  in- 
convenience from  the  repast,  and  from  that  day  she 
took  other  food  and  rapidly  recovered.  There  was  less 
danger,  indeed,  from  that  indigestible  article,  which 
contained  very  little  nourishment,  than  would  have 
been  from  eating  immoderately  of  more  concentrated 
nourishment,  though  it  might  have  been  much  more 
digestible. 

This  statement  is  illustrated  by  another  case : — 

A young  man,  recovering  from  a fever,  seventeen 
miles  from  home,  was  urged  by  his  parents  to  go  home 
before  he  had  been  able  to  take  but  very  little  nourish- 
ment. Contrary  to  advice,  while  stopping  to  rest 
seven  miles  from  home,  being  o^'ercome  by  the  de- 
mands of  his  appetite,  and  having  ho  one  to  restrain 
him,  he  obtained  and  ate  heartily  of  beefsteak,  pota- 


HOSPITAL  DIETETICS. 


259 


toes,  bread  and  butter,  cfec.,  and  in  one  hour  was  dead. 
A restoration  so  suddenly  of  the  natural  elements  of 
the  blood  probably  produced  apoplexy.  These  cases 
forcibly  illustrate  the  statement  on  page  128,  that  any 
article  of  food  may  be  wholesome  or  poisonous  accord- 
ing to  the  circumstances  under  which  it  is  taken.  The 
cucumber  was  wholesome  — the  beefsteak  a deadly 
poison. 

These  cases  also  show  that  while  the  appetite  may 
be  trusted  in  regard  to  the  article  to  be  eaten,  it  cannot 
be  trusted  in  regard  to  the  quantity,  especially  after  the 
system  has  been  exhausted  by  disease ; so  that  though 
the  unperverted  appetite  may  in  health  be  trusted  with 
natural  food  to  the  extent  of  its  demands,  in  sickness 
it  can  only  be  trusted  in  relation  to  the  appropriate 
article  to  be  eaten,  and  not  in  regard  to  the  quantity 
required. 

We  therefore  need  some  dietetic  rules  by  which  to 
regulate  the  diet  of  the  sick.  In  almost  all  hospitals 
patients  are  divided  into  classes,  and  have  a diet  for 
jach  under  different  names. 

In  St.  Thomases  Hospital  of  London 
They  have 


Full  diet.  Milk  diet. 


'2  pints  beer,  14  oz.  12  oz.  bread, 

bread,  water  gruel.  1 pint  of  milk. 


lireakfast.  . < 


Dry  diet. 

14  oz.  bread,  2 pints  of 
beer,  water  gruel. 


12  oz.  bread, 

2 pints  of  beer. 


Fever  diet. 


260 


LONDON  HOSPITALS. 


Dinner. 


^ Full  diet. 

^ lb.  beef,  when  dressed, 
twice  a week ; 4 oz. 
butter,  or  6 oz.  cheese, 
thrice  a week ; lb. 
mutton,  when  boiled, 
J twice  a week.* 


Milk  diet. 

1 pint  of  milk  four 
times  a week  ; rice 
puddings  thrice  a 
week. 


Diy  Diet. 

4 OZ.  , butter  four  times  a 
week ; rice  pudding 
and  4 oz.  butter  thrice 
a week. 


Fever  diet. 

f lb.  beef  for  tea. 


Supper.  . . I 


Full  diet. 

1 pint  of  broth,  four  times 
a week. 


Milk  diet 

1 pint  milk. 


In  London  Hospital 

They  have  per  day 

r Common  diet. 

12  OZ.  bread,  1 pint  por- 
ter men,  ^ pint  porter 
Breakfast.  women;  gruel. 


Low  diet. 

8 oz.  bread  ; gruel. 


Middle  diet. 

Same  as  common. 


Milk  diet 

12  oz.  bread  ; gruel 


Dinner.  . 


I ' Common  diet. 

8 oz.  mutton,  with  pota- 
toes, five  times  a week  ; 
8 oz.  potatoes  and  soup, 
^ with  vegetables,  twice 
a week. 


Middle  diet. 

The  same,  except  4 
oz.  meat  instead  of 
8 oz. 


Low  diet. 

Broth. 


Milk  diet 

1 pint  milk. 


♦ All  the  London  hospitals  have,  when  ordered  by  the  physician, 
\n  addition,  chops,  steaks,  fish,  wine,  spirits,  porter,  &c. 


DIET  OF  HOSPITALS, 


261 


Supper. 


They  have 

r 


^ Common  diet. 

1 pint  of  broth. 


Low  diet.  Milk  diet. 

Gruel  or  broth.  1 pint  milk. 

In  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital 


Middle  diet. 


Common  diet. 


Broth  diet. 


Milk  porridge,  12  oz.  bread, 
6 oz.  mutton  or  beef,  1 
pint  broth  with  peas  or  po- 
tatoes, four  times  a week  ; 
2 pints  beer  for  men,  1 
pint  for  women  ; 1 oz  but- 
ter thrice  a week. 


Milk  porridge,  12 
oz.  bread,  2 pints 
broth,  1 pint  beer, 
1 oz.  butter. 


Daily. 


Thin,  or  fever  diet. 

Milk  porridge,  12  oz.  bread, 
1 pint  milk,  with  tapioca, 
arrow  root,  sago,  or  rice, 
as  may  be  prescribed ; bar- 
ley water. 


Milk  diet. 

Milk  porridge,  12  oz. 
bread,  2 pints  milk, 
with  tapioca,  ar- 
row root,  sago,  or 
rice;  barley  water ; 
1 oz.  butter  ; bread 
pudding  3 times  a 
week  when  or- 
dered. 


In  Guy's  Hos^pital 


They  have 

Middle  diet. 

12  OZ.  bread, 
oz.  but- 
ter, 1 pint 
table  beer, 
4 oz.  meat, 
and  J pint 
broth. 


Low  diet. 

Milk  diet. 

Fever  diet. 

12  ounces 

12  ounces 

6 ounces 

bread,  1 

bread,  1 

bread,  1 

oz.  but- 

oz. but- 

oz. but- 

ter, tea 

ter,  2 

ter,  tea 

and  su- 

pints of 

and  su- 

gar. 

milk. 

gar. 

Full  diet. 

14  OZ.  bread, 
1^  oz.  but- 
ter, 1 qt. 
table  beer, 
8 oz.  meat 
when  it  is 
dressed. 


For  each  diet,  gruel  or  barley 
water,  as  required. 


4 lb.  beef  for  beef  tea,  or  arrow 
root,  or  sugar  when  ordered. 


262 


DIET  OF  HOSPITALS 


At  St.  George's  Hbsj>ital 

They  have 


Daily.  . . ^ 

r Extra  diet. 
12  oz.  bread, 
2 pints  beer 
for  men ; 1 
pint  of  beer 
^ for  women. 

Ord’y  Diet. 
12  ounces 
bread,  1 
pt.  beer. 

Fish  diet. 
12  ounces 
bread. 

Fever  diet. 

12  ounces 
bread, 
barley 
water  ad 
libitum. 

Broth  diet. 
12  ounces 
bread. 

Milk  diet 
12  ouncrl' 
bread. 

Breakfast,  j 

1 1 pint  tea,  1^ 
' pints  milk. 

1 pt.  tea,  ^ 
pt.  milk. 

1 pt.  tea,  1 
pt.  milk. 

1 pt.  tea,  4 
pt.  milk. 

1 pt.  tea,  1 
pint  milk 

1 pt.  tea,  1 
pint  milk 

Dinner.  . 

'12  oz.  meat, 
with  bone, 
roasted,  4 
days ; boil- 
ed, 3 days ; | 
lb.  potatoes. 

6 ounces 
meat,  \ 
lb.  pota- 
toes. 

4 oz.  plain 
boiled 
white 
fish,  as 
plaice, 
haddock, 
fiounders 

Arrow 
root,  &c., 
as  direct- 
ed. 

1 pt.br’th, 
6 ounces 
light 
pudding. 

ji  pints 
rice,milk 
4 days,  J 
lb.  bread 
or  rice 
pudding 
3 days. 

Supper.  . .| 

1 pint  gruel, 
I \ pint  milk. 

1 pt.  gru- 
el, \ pint 
milk. 

1 pt.  gru- 
el, 1 pt. 
milk. 

1 pt.  tea, 
I pint 

milk. 

1 pt.  gru- 
el, 1 pint 
milk. 

4 pt.  milk. 

In  Westminster  Hospital 

They  have 

r IWi/l/nA  T.ntur 


Daily.  . . . 

Full  diet. 
12  oz.  bread. 

Middle 

diet. 

10  ounces 
bread. 

Low  diet. 

Fixed. 

1 pound 
bread. 

Low  diet. 
Casual. 

Spoon,  or 
fever  diet. 
\ pound 
bread. 

Incurables 

diet. 

1 lb.  bread, 
^ lb.  meat, 
^ lb.  pota- 
toes, 1 pt. 
milk,  1 pt. 
porter. 

Breakfast.  | 

r 1 pint  milk 
I porridge,  or 
1 rice  gruel. 

1 pt.  milk 
porridge, 
or  thin 
gruel. 

1 pt.  tea, 
with  su- 
gar and 
milk. 

1 pt.  tea, 
with  su- 
gar and 
milk. 

Dinner.  . .- 

' ^ lb.  meat, 
roasted, 
broiled,  or 
chops;  |lb. 
potatoes. 

^ lb.  meat, 
roasted 
or  boil- 
ed, or 
chops ; 1 
lb.  pota- 
toes. 

No  fixed 
diet. 

1 pt.broth 
or  ^ lb. 
bread,  or 
rice  pud- 
dings, or 
1 pt.  beef 
tea,or  fish 

Barley 

water. 

Bupper.  . .-j 

1 1 pint  milk 
1 porridge,  or 
1 rice  gruel. 

1 pt.  milk 
porridge 
or  gruel. 

1 pt.  tea, 
with  su- 
g.ir  and 
milk. 

1 pt.  tea, 
with  su- 
gar and 
milk. 

DIET  OF  HOSPITALS 


In  the  Middlesex  Hospital 

They  have  ' 


Daily,  , . 

' Meat  diet. 

12  oz.  bread. 

Soup  diet. 
12  ounces 
bread. 

Milk  diet. 
12  ounces 
bread. 

Simple  diet. 
G oz.  bread. 

Breakfast. 

; 1 pint  milk. 

1 pt.  milk. 

1 pt.  milk. 

1 pt.  barley 
water. 

Dinner.  . .- 

' Physicians’  Pa- 
tient$. 

1|  lbs.  potatoes, 
4 oz.  dressed 
beef  or  mutton, 
roasted  and 

boiled,  alter- 
nately, 4 days; 
4 oz.  meat  in 
soup  3 days. 

1 pt  soup, 
made  with 
4 oz.  beef, 
alternately 
with  1 pt. 
of  broth, 
with  bar- 
ley water. 

1 pint  milk 
with  rice 
puddings 
four  days, 
and  batter 
pudding 
three  days. 

1 pt.  gruel. 

Surgeons’  Pa- 
tients. 

1 lb.  potatoes,  4 
oz.  dressed  beef 
or  mutton, 

roasted  and 

boiled  alter- 

, nately. 

Supper.  . .j 

" 1 pt.  gruel  alter- 
1 natelywith  1 pt. 
[ barley  water. 

1 pt.  gruel. 

^ pt.  milk, 
or  1 pint 
gruel. 

1 pt.  gruel 
or  barley 
water. 

In  King’s  College  Hospital 

They  have 


Daily.  . . .- 

r Full  diet. 

) 1 pint  beer,  or 
1 § pt.  porter; 
^ 14  oz.  bread. 

Middle  diet. 
14  oz.  bread. 

Milk  diet. 

1 lb.  bread. 

Low  diet. 

8 oz.  bread. 

Breakfast. 

( Ipt.  milkpor- 
( ridge. 

1 pint  milk 
porridge. 

1 pt.  milk. 

1 pt.  gruel. 

Dinner.  . . 

1 § lb.  meat,  | lb. 
f potatoes. 

1 lb.  meat,  | 
lb.  potatoes.. 

1 pt.  milk. 

1 pt.  broth. 

Supper.  . , 

I 1 pt.  milk  por- 
i ridge. 

1 pint  milk 
porridge. 

1 pt.  gruel. 

1 pt.  milk 
porridge. 

Cancer  diet. 
12  oz.bread, 
\ lb.  meat, 
^ lb.  pota- 
toes, \ pt. 
milk. 


Fever  diet. 


1 pt.  gruel 

2 pts.  bar- 
ley water. 

1 pint  milk 
porridge. 


264 


EXPLANATION  OF  DIET  TABLES. 


They  have 


Daily. 


In  North  London  Hospital 


' Full  diet. 

^ Middle  diet. 

Low  diet. 

16  oz.  bread,  \ pt. 

16  oz.  bread,  | 

S oz.  bread,  | pt. 

milk,  ^ lb.  meat, 

pt.  milk,  1 pint 

milk,  oatmeal 

and  1 lb.  potatoes, 
four  days;  1 pint 
of  rice  or  soup 
. three  days. 

soup  or  rice. 

gruel. 

Milk  diet. 

17  oz.  bread,  2 
pints  milk. 


According  to  Pereira,  from  whose  treatise  on  die- 
tetics the  above  tables  are  taken,  and  who  was  con- 
nected with  one  of  these  hospitals,  these  several  diets 
are  employed  for  the  following  reasons  : — 

Full,  Common,  or  Meat  Diet.  — ”On  many  occa- 
sions where  it  is  desirable  to  restore  or  support  the 
powers  of  the  system,  patients  are  permitted  to  satisfy 
their  appetite  for  plain  vegetable  and  animal  food.  In 
many  indolent  diseases,  in  scrofula,  in  some  affections 
of  the  nervous  system,  as  chorea  and  epilepsy,  and  in 
the  stage  of  convalescence  after  acute  maladies,  &c., 
this  kind  of  diet  is  frequently  directed.  In  these  cases 
beer  and  sometimes  wine  are  permitted,  and  spirit  is 
occasionally  required.  In  some  diseases  of,  and  acci- 
dents occurring  in  confirmed  drunkards,  it  is  frequently 
found  injurious  to  withhold  the  stimulus  to  which  the 
patient’s  system  has  been  long  accustomed,  and  thus 
wine,  gin,  rum,  or  brandy  are  ordered  according  to 
circumstances.” 

This  full  or  common  diet  is  in  general  founded,  I 
think,  upon  correct  general  principles,  as  understood 
at  the  time  of  its  adoption  ; but  in  the  light  of  some 
new  scientific  revelations  might  be  greatly  improved. 


EXPLANATION  OF  THE  TABLES. 


265 


For  example,  in  each  table  of  full  diet  for  all  the 
London  hospitals  is  given  from  twelve  to  sixteen  ounces 
of  bread,  and  from  the  remark  of  Pereira,  page  149, 
that  '^the  fine  bread,  prepared  from  flour  only,  is  the 
most  nutritive  and  digestible,”  I conclude  that  fine 
white  bread  is  the  article  prescribed,  and  this  conclu- 
sion is  favored  by  the  remark  on  the  same  page,  that 
^ notwithstanding  that  bread  is  denominated  the  staff 
of  life^  alone  it  does  not  appear  to  be  capable  of 
supporting  prolonged  human  existence.  Boussingault 
came  to  this  conclusion  from  observing  the  small  quan- 
tity of  nitrogen  which  it  contains ; and  the  reports  of 
the  inspectors  of  prisons,  on  the  effects  of  diet  of  bread 
and  water,  favor  this  notion.” 

These  remarks  are  true  of  flour  bread,  but  not  true 
of  bread  made  from  wheat  in  its  natural  state,  as  is 
seen  by  analysis,  page  24.  That  a great  improvement 
in  this  diet  would  be  made  by  substituting  unbolted 
wheaten  bread,  or  cracked  wheat  in  part,  I think  will 
not  be  disputed  by  any  one  who  will  consider  the  facts 
already  referred  to.  (See  pages  26  and  27.)  It  is  diffi- 
cult also  for  us  in  Boston,  who  have  pure  water,  and 
have  never  seen  beer  or  porter  used  with  meals  to  any 
extent,  in  sickness  or  health,  to  understand  the  neces- 
sity or  advantage  of  giving  in  sickness  two  pints  of 
beer  to  men  or  one  and  a half  pints  to  women  habit- 
ually, especially  as  in  almost  all  kinds  of  sickness 
patients  desire  to  return  to  primitive  food  and  drinks, 
whatever  their  habits  .when  well,  and  prefer  pure 
water ; but  with  such  water  as  the  best  that  can  b^ 


266 


ALCOHOL  IN  BOSTON  HOSPITALS. 


furnished  with  their  best  arrangements  in  any  hospital 
in  London,  we  should  realize  the  necessity  of  some 
beverage  which  would  at  least  cover  up  the  taste  and 
smell  of  the  water.  Considering,  therefore,  the  ad- 
vantages of  pure  water  which  Boston  possesses,  and 
the  little  excuse  we  have  for  giving  any  substitute,  our 
use  of  alcoholic  beverages  is  much  more  obnoxious  to 
criticism  than  that  of  any  hospital  in  London.  By  the 
diet  list  it  will  be  seen  that  no  alcoholic  beverages  are 
given  out  regularly ; but  by  the  superintendent’s  report 
of  disbursements,  we  see  that  in  the  year  1866  the 
sum  of  seventeen  hundred  and  forty-nine  dollars  and 
seventy-seven  cents  was  paid  out  for  liquors,  and  seven 
hundred  and  seventy-one  dollars  and  eighty-one  cents 
for  ale  and  porter  — twenty-five  hundred  and  twenty- 
one  dollars  and  fifty-eight  cents.  Nearly  fifty  dollars 
a week  for  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  patients. 

Now,  considering  the  effects  of  alcoholic  drinks  on 
the  human  system,  according  to  the  views  of  Professor 
Carpenter,  who  is  the  standard  authority  in  the  college 
under  whose  auspices  this  hospital  is  conducted,  I ven- 
ture the  assertion  that  less  than  one  dollar  a week 
would  cover  the  expense  of  alcohol  in  all  forms  in 
which  it  would  be  of  any  essential  service  to  the 
patients.  Carpenter  says,  in  his  Physiology,  page 
77,  ” The  operation  of  alcohol  upon  the  living  body  is 
essentially  that  of  a stimulus^  increasing  for  a time, 
like  other  stimuli,  the  vital  activity  of  the  body,  and 
especially  that  of  the  nervo-muscular  apparatus,  so  that 
a greater  effect  may  often  be  produced  in  a given  time 


ALCOHOL  ONLY  A STIMULUS. 


26T 


under  its  use  than  can  be  obtained  without  it,  but 
being  followed  by  a corresponding  depression  of  power, 
which  is  the  more  prolonged  and  severe  in  proportion 
as  the  previous  excitement  has  been  greater.  Nothing, 
therefore,  is  in  the  end  gained  by  their  use,  which  is 
only  justifiable  where  some  temporary  emergency  can 
only  be  met  by  a temporary  augmentation  of  power, 
even  at  the  expense  of  an  increased  amount  of  subse- 
quent depression,  or  where  (as  in  the  case  of  some 
individuals  whose  digestive  power  is  deficient)  it  affords 
aid  in  the  introduction  of  aliment  into  the  system 
which  nothing  else  can  so  well  supply.  These  excep- 
tional cases,  however,  will  be  less  numerous  in  propor- 
tion as  due  attention  is  paid  to  those  other  means  of 
yrornoting  health  which  are  more  in  accordance  with 
nature 

Will  any  physician  contend  that  from  seventy  to  one 
hundred  applications  of  stimuli  are  necessary  daily  to 
''  goad  ” the  flagging  powers  of  nature  in  these  one 
hundred  and  twenty-eight  patients  up  to  their  duty? 
A stimulus  is  literally  a goad,  and,  according  to  Carpen- 
ter, and  every  other  sensible  physiologist,  alcohol  is  a 
stimulus,  and  is  never  to  be  used  only  as  a discreet 
horseman  would  use  a goad  or  a whip  when  other 
Inducements  fail  to  excite  the  necessary  exertion ; and 
will  any  one  contend  that  ” these  exceptional  cases  ” 
in  a year  are  so  numerous  as  to  require  an  expense  to 
meet  them  of  twenty-five  hundred  and  twenty-one  dol- 
lars and  fifty-eight  cents  ? 

But  the  expense,  it  seems  to  me,  is  a trifle  too  insig- 
nificant to  be  mentioned  (except  as  a means  of  estimating 


268 


DAJJ^GER  OF  USING  ALCOHOL. 


the  extent  of  the  practice)  compared  with  other  evils 
resulting  from  such  practice.  Professor  Jacob  Bigelow, 
in  a lecture  to  a class  of  young  men  in  Harvard  Medi- 
cal School,  in  1825,  of  which  I was  one,  uttered  words 
on  this  subject  that  have  so  influenced  my  practice,  that 
in  forty  years  I have  never  used  or  recommended  as 
much  alcohol  to  be  taken  internally  as  is  prescribed  in 
the  Boston  City  Hospital  in  one  week ; and  while  I 
have  the  pleasure  of  knowing  that  I never  made  a 
drunkard  by  precept  or  example,  I have  equal  assur- 
ance that  no  patient  of  mine  has  ever  had  an  additional 
pain  or  an  additional  hour  of  sickness  for  the  want  of 
alcohol  in  any  form. 

To  quote  again  Dr.  Bigelow  : Alcohol  is  highly 

stimulating,  heating,  and  intoxicating,  and  its  effects 
are  so  fascinating,  that,  when  once  experienced,  the 
danger  is  that  the  desire  for  them  may  be  perpetuated. 
Many  patients  have  become  gradually  and  impercepti- 
bly intemperate  under  the  sanction  and  guidance  of  a 
physician.” 

These  assertions  are  denied  only  by  those  whose 
practice  makes  a denial  necessary  for  justification,  and 
they  are  as  true  in  relation  to  hospital  as  to  private 
practice  ; and  being  true,  the  inference  is  irresistible  that 
scores  of  intemperate  drinkers  are  made  every  year  by 
the  practice  of  giving  convalescents  alcoholic  beverages. 

They  feel  better  for  a while  after  a glass  of  wine,  or 
^le,  or  whiskey,  and,  having  ” the  sanction  and  guid- 
ance of  a physician,”  they  continue  the  habit  after 
leaving  the  hospital,  with  a determination,  perhaps,  to 
discontinue  it  as  soon  as  they  recover  their  stren;2jth ; 


BOSTON  CITY  HOSPITAL. 


269 


but,  unfortunately,  they  never  recover  so  as  to  be  able 
to  do  without  their  beverage,  or  at  least  so  as  not  to 
make  ill  health  an  excuse  for  continuing  the  habit,  and 
it  grows  upon  them  till  they  go  down  to  a drunkard’s 
grave,  cursing,  perhaps,  the  doctor  who  first  set  them 
out  on  the  road  to  destruction.  Such  cases  I have 
frequently  seen,  and  have  heartily  thanked  God  that 
such  an  awful  responsibility  never  rested  on  me. 


Boston  City  Hospital.  Diet  List. 

Dinner. 

Mondays.  . Soup,  potatoes,  bread  (wheat,  Graham, 
and  brown) , and  puddings. 

Tuesdays.  . Boiled  corned  beef  and  vegetables,  bread 
(three  kinds) . 

Wednesdays.  Fresh  fish  (fried  and  boiled),  potatoes, 
bread  (three  kinds),  and  puddings. 

Thursdays.  . Roast  beef,  or  mutton,  vegetables,  and 
bread  as  above. 

Fridays.  . Salt  fish  and  potatoes,  bread  as  above, 
and  puddings. 

Saturdays.  . Stewed  meat  and  vegetables,  bread  as 
above. 

Sundays.  . Roast  beef  or  mutton,  vegetables,  bread 
as  above. 


Breakfast  and  Supper. 

Each  day  of  the  week  tea  and  coffee,  at  the  discretion 
of  the  physician  ; shells,  cocoa,  bread  (wheat,  Graham, 
and  brown) , milk  and  sugar,  butter,  &c.  Cold  meat, 
Steak  or  chop,  if  ordered. 


270 


BOSTON  CITY  HOSPITAL. 


Bread  always  in  abundance ; potatoes  always ; other 
vegetables  in  their  season.  In  addition,  broth,  either 
of  mutton  or  chicken,  is  made  each  day,  that  it  may  be 
in  readiness  for  patients,  if  prescribed  by  the  physicians. 

The  above  is  what  is  called  the  House  Diet,  which 
takes  the  place  of  the  "Full  Diet,”  "Ordinary  Diet,” 
or  "Common  Diet,”  of  the  London  hospitals.  But 
there  are  no  tables  of  "Middle  Diet,”  "First  Diet,” 
"Milk  Diet,”  "Low  Diet,”  "Fever  Diet,”  or  "Broth 
Diet,”  as  in  the  London  hospitals.  But  in  every  ward 
is  a bill  of  fare,  which  is  filled  up  every  morning  and 
evening  by  the  nurse,  under  the  direction  of  the  physi- 
cian, and  generally  according  to  the  wishes  of  each 
patient,  thus  : — 

Orders  for  Food  for  Patients.  Ward  — . 


Date. 

House  Diet. 

Beefsteak. 

No.  of 
Patients. 

Date. 

Baked  potatoes. 

No.  of 
Patients. 

Mutton  chop 

Eggs. 

Chicken. 

Milk. 

Oysters. 

Boiled  rice. 

Broth. 

Toast. 

Mush. 

Coffee. 

Gruel. 

Tea. 

Farina. 

Shells. 

Cocoa. 

The  foregoing  diet  list  and  bill  of  fare  may  be  con- 
sidered the  best  dietetic  arrangement  in  this  country, 


THE  GREAT  DIETETIC  FAULT  OF  BOSTON.  271 


the  City  Hospital  being  the  last  great  establishment 
finished  in  the  country,  and  the  trustees  having  taken 
great  pains  to  examine  the  diet  tables  of  all,  and  make 
improvements  on  them>  Like  every  other  hospital,  its 
diet  is  modified  by  the  habits  of  the  community  in 
which  it  is  situated. 

The  great  dietetic  fault  of  Boston  consists  in  using 
much  too  large  a proportion  of  carbonaceous  food, 
which  is  the  result  of  the  use  of  superfine  flour,  butter, 
and  sugar,  instead  of  the  natural  combinations  of  these 
elements,  as  found  in  the  grains,  and  fruits,  and  milk, 
from  which  these  principles  are  separated.  On  page 
34,  I have  estimated  the  proportion  of  white  bread  to 
all  other  bread  used  in  Boston  to  be  ninety-five  per  cent. 
The  cook  in  the  hospital  estimates  the  proportion  of 
bread  used  by  the  patients  to  be  ninety  per  cent,  of 
flour  bread,  while  the  proportion  used  by  the  other 
members  of  the  family  is  much  greater,  making  the 
estimate  nearly  the  same  as  that  for  the  whole  city. 
A great  improvement  would  undoubtedly  be  made  by 
substituting  bread  made  from  unbolted  wheat,  ground 
from  selected  wheat,  — that  which  is  denominated  Gra- 
ham bread  being  generally  an  inferior  quality  of  flour, 
mixed  with  bran,  which  is  a different  and  very  inferior 
article.  Of  twenty-six  hundred  and  forty-eight  dol- 
lars and  fifty  cents  paid  for  bread,  probably  two  thou- 
sand dollars  are  lost  in  the  excess  of  carbonaceous  food, 
which  does  much  harm  by  creating  a tendency  to 
inflammations  and  fevers,  and  by  prolonging  this  class 
of  diseases.  Of  the  twenty-nine  hundred  and  seventy- 


272 


MILK  IN  THE  CITY  HOSPITAL. 


eight  dollars  and  eighty-eight  cents  paid  for  butter,  all 
that  part  of  it  used  with  flour  bread  is  lost,  and  worse 
than  lost,  adding  only  to  its  redundant  carbonates,  and 
increasing  its  heating  qualities  ; but  any  part  that  may 
be  used  with  lean  meats  or  vegetables,  may  be  useful, 
being  more  digestible  than  the  fat  of  meats,  and  being 
useful  in  supplying  the  carbonates,  which  are  deficient 
both  in  lean  meats  and  green  vegetables.  The  amount 
of  sugar  used  does  not  appear,  being  included  with 
other  groceries,  but  probably  enough  to  add  consider- 
ably to  the  superabundant  carbonates. 

The  amount  of  milk  used  in  this  hospital  is  very 
great,  being,  in  the  whole  year,  thirty-nine  thousand 
nine  hundred  and  fifty-two  quarts,  at  a cost  of  twenty- 
nine  hundred  and  seventy-six  dollars  and  seventy  cents, 
or  four  and  one  half  quarts  a week  for  every  inmate. 
This  is  an  excellent  investment ; and  if,  with  all  this  milk 
used,  there  were  as  much  of  unbolted  wheat  bread,  or 
cracked  wheat,  or  hominy  from  southern  corn,  as  the  ap- 
petite demanded,  the  improvement  would  be  very  great. 

Adaptation  of  Food  to  different  Diseases. 

In  order  to  make  a general  adaptation  of  food  to 
different  diseases,  and  different  conditions  of  the  sick, 
it  will  be  useful  to  recur  to  the  table  of  the  representa- 
tive articles  of  the  four  different  classes  of  alimentary 
substances,  which  will  be  found  on  page  134.  The 
leading  articles  of  the  first  class  (the  carbonates  or 
heat-producers)  are,  the  fat  of  meats,  butter,  sugar, 


THE  LUXURY  OF  CONVALESCENCE. 


273 


and  fine  flour,  all  of  which,  and  the  last  especially, 
are  used  in  Boston  in  excess  sufficient  to  account, 
undoubtedly,  for  many  of  the  inflammatory  diseases  to 
which  we  are  so  liable,  keeping  up  the  steam,  and  heat- 
ing up  the  timbers  constantly,  to  the  point  almost  of 
ignition,  and  making  it  more  difficult  to  quench  the 
flames  when  once  started  (if  I may  be  allowed  again 
to  recur  to  the  figure  already  once  employed  to  describe 
the  condition  of  the  system  induced  by  a diet  unnat- 
urally heating) . This  figure  is  also  suggestive  of  the 
diet  adapted  to  inflammatory  diseases.  Remove  the 
combustible  material  and  use  water.  This  treatment 
Nature  strongly  suggests  also,  by  the  loss  of  appetite 
for  all  carbonaceous  food,  and  the  demand  for  cold 
water  in  all  fevers  and  inflammatory  diseases.  The 
first  effect  of  following  these  intimations  will  be  to 
cause  emaciation,  the  adipose  substance  being  used  to 
supply  the  lungs  with  fuel,  which  they  must  have  every 
moment ; and  at  the  beginning  of  sickness  it  is  cer- 
tainly not  an  evil  to  lose  this  fat,  and  thus  prepare  the 
system  for  fresh,  clean,  and  new  clothing  whenever  it 
returns  to  a condition  to  need  it.  We  need  not  be 
anxious  to  retain  our  old  clothes  if  we  can  be  sure  of 
new  ones,  without  extra  expense,  whenever  we  are  able 
to  make  good  use  of  them. 

One  source  of  that  delightful  sensation  which  consti- 
tutes the  luxury  of  convalescence,  is  that  sense  of  fresh- 
ness and  newness  of  every  part,  as  the  body  is  being 
reclothed  with  newly-formed  adiposea  and  muscle.  This 
Mxiety,  therefore,  which  we  so  often  see  manifested 
18 


274 


REST  OF  MIND  AND  MUSCLE. 


lest  we  or  our  friends  should  lose  flesh  when  sick,  is  at 
least  unnecessary.  Of  this  we  can  judge  by  adverting 
to  our  experience  or  observation  of  the  difference  be- 
tween the  luxury  of  convalescence  from  a fever,  in 
which  the  flesh  has  been  removed,  to  be  again  restored, 
and  that  from  dropsy,  or  rheumatism,  or  gout,  where 
the  effete  old  body  of  flesh  still  clings  to  us.  In  all 
attacks  of  inflammatory  disease,  then,  the  first  direc- 
tion is  to  stop  the  supply  of  fuel,  and  let  Nature  supply 
the  necessary  heat,  burning  up  the  rubbish  and  cleans- 
ing the  premises  at  the  same  time. 

If  we  need  no  supply  of  carbonaceous  food  in  the 
first  attack  of  inflammatory  diseases,  we  certainly  need 
none  of  the  nitrates  or  phosphates,  for  the  muscles  and 
mind  both  need  absolute  rest,  and  therefore  need  not  be 
supplied  with  elements  which  are  only  necessary  in 
muscular  or  mental  activity.  And  here,  too,  we  have 
but  to  follow  the  intimations  of  Nature,  not  only  in  re- 
gard to  the  supply  of  nutriment,  but  also  in  regard  to 
the  rest  which  is  demanded,  both  for  mind  and  muscle. 

In  regard  to  the  exercise  of  muscles  in  sickness  we 
are  not  much  inclined  to  err,  as  we  seldom  use  tlie 
muscles,  or  urge  our  friends  to  do  so,  in  that  state  of 
lassitude  which  accompanies  inflammatory  diseases ; 
but  forgetting  or  not  knowing  that  the  mind  is  subject 
to  the  same  laws  as  the  muscles,  the  mind  is  not  left  to 
enjoy  that  absolute  rest  which  it  requires,  and  nurses, 
and  mothers,  and  friends  tire  patients  with  talk  on  all 
sorts  of  subjects,  if  they  do  not  insist  on  answers  from 
them  to  all  sorts  of  questions  ; but,  by  reference  to  pages 


MAKE  EVERYTHING  PLEASANT  TO  PATIENTS^  275 

87,  88,  and  89,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  brain  requires 
nourishment  as  well  as  the  muscles,  and  is  as  much  ex- 
hausted by  efforts  of  the  mind  as  the  muscles  are  by 
active  exercise.  While,  therefore,  phosphatic  food  can- 
not be  born^,  the  mind  should  be  permitted  to  have 
absolute  rest,  being  exercised  only  in  making  known 
the  necessary  requirements  of  the  system.  That  friend 
is,  therefore,  kindest  who  keeps  out  of  the  sick  chamber 
till  her  services  are  required. 

Nor  is  it  right  to  consult  the  patient  on  the  subject 
of  seeing  friends  or  neighbors.  The  very  efforts  neces- 
sary to  decide  the  question  are  injurious,  and  until  after 
decided  convalescence,  and  both  mind  and  body  have 
been  recuperated  by  appropriate  nourishment,  the  world, 
and  everything  pertaining  to  it,  mentally  or  physically, 
should  be  absolutely  shut  out  of  the  sick  chamber,  and 
when  again  admitted,  should  be  admitted  very  carefully 
and  gradually.  Another  important  consideration  is  to 
CONSULT  THE  FEELINGS,  WISHES,  AND  TASTES  OF  PA- 
TIENTS IN  EVERYTHING. 

Mind  is  the  motive  power  of  the  world,  and  every- 
thing in  it,  mental  or  physical.  And  the  human  system, 
sick  or  well,  is  more  dependent  on  the  harmonious  action 
of  the  mental  faculties  than  all  other  influences  com- 
bined beside,  not  only  for  its  health  and  efficiency,  but 
for  its  comfort  when  sick,  and  for  its  recovery  to  health. 

First,  then,  put  the  mind  of  patients  at  ease  in  re- 
gard to  everything  in  which  they  are  interested,  — the 
doctor,  the  nurse,  the  room,  and  everything  in  it,  — al- 
lowing nothing  in  it  disagreeable.  Then  allow  them  to 


276  TAKE  NOTHING  WHICH  OFFENDS  THE  TASTE. 

take  a little  of  anything  they  desire  to  take,  and  to  taste 
of  nothing  disagreeable,  of  food,  drink,  or  medicine. 
I have  already  alluded  to  the  fact  that  in  health  the  ap- 
petite and  sense  of  taste  are  placed  as  guardians  to  pro- 
tect the  system  from  injurious  substances  (page  12)  ; 
and  can  we  believe  it  to  be  duty,  when  suffering  from 
pain  and  sickness,  to  add  to  our  suffering  by  taking  dis- 
gusting drugs,  making  no  effort  to  render  them  pala- 
table and  innoxious?  But  the  argument  in  favor  of 
this  practice  is,  that  Nature  has  furnished  drugs  which, 
in  their  crude  state,  are  disagreeable,  but  which,  never- 
theless, do  sometimes  relieve  suffering  and  cure  disease. 
Does  this  argument  prove  that  we  should  take  drugs  in 
the  crude,  disagreeable  state  in  which  they  are  naturally 
provided?  If  so,  it  proves  too  much,  and, -therefore, 
nothing. 

Our  food  is  furnished  us  mostly  in  a crude,  unpala- 
table condition,  but  we  were  provided  with  intellects  to 
show  us  how  to  cook  it  and  adapt  it  to  our  tastes  and 
requirements ; and  when  we  rightly  use  our  intellects, 
and  rightly  prepare  our  food,  we  both  relish  it  and  are 
conscious  of  its  adaptation  to  our  wants.  So  God  evi- 
dently intended  we  should  use  our  brains  in  preparing 
medicines,  and  in  adapting  them  to  our  taste  and  re- 
quirements, and  when  we  do  so  we  are  rewarded  by  the 
same  evidence  of  its  adaptation  to  our  requirements. 
If  instead  of  relief  we  find  the  system  disturbed,  wa 
may  be  sure  we  have  mistaken  the  remedy,  or  have 
given  it  in  an  improper  condition  or  quantity,  just  as  we 
are  always  sure  we  have  taken  improper  food,  if,  instead 
of  gratified  appetite  we  get  disturbance  from  it. 


MAKE  THE  SICK  ROOM  PLEASANT. 


277 


Other  animals  are  furnished  both  with  food  and  med- 
icine in  a state  adapted  to  their  wants,  because  they 
have  not  sense  to  prepare  them.  The  sick  cat  takes 
with  relish  the  simple  catnip  provided  for  it,  and  it 
does  good  and  not  harm ; but  the  sick  child  must  swal- 
low drugs  which  it  shudders  to  think  of,  and  which 
disturbs  all  its  functions  for  days  and  weeks,  and  some- 
times for  life.  All  animals,  in  their  natural  state,  take 
with  impunity  whatever  they  desire,  sick  or  well,  and 
nothing  else ; and  until  our  appetites  are  perverted  by 
unnatural  food,  we  also  can  take  and  give  our  children 
everything,  in  a natural  state,  which  they  desire,  sick  or 
well ; and  when  prostrate  with  sickness,  however  per- 
verted our  tastes  may  have  been,  we  return  to  our  prim- 
itive appetites  and  desires.  The  drunkard  loses  his 
desire  for  alcohol,  the  smoker  for  his  cigar,  and  the 
gormand  for  his  rich  food.  All  come  down  to  the  same 
simple  demands  of  nature,  and  all  can  be  trusted  to  eat 
and  drink  what  they  choose,  and  will  all  be  benefited 
by  rejecting  everything  offensive  to  their  tastes. 

Is  it  reasonable  that  our  heavenly  Father  should  be 
at  such  infinite  pains  to  adapt  the  world  to  the  comfort 
and  happiness  of  man,  and  give  him  a natural  relish 
for  everything  that  is  best  for  him  to  have  in  health, 
but  when  sick  and  in  pain,  should  intend  to  add  to  his 
suffering  by  consigning  him  to  the  torments  of  blisters, 
hot  irons,  cataplasms,  and  disgusting  drugs? 

Our  reason,  therefore,  as  well  as  our  humanity,  ex- 
perience, and  common  sense,  accords  with  plain  deduc- 
tions from  Nature’s  common  laws,  and  demands  that 


278 


REQUIKEMENTS  IN  SICKNESS. 


everything  offensive  to  the  patient,  whether  of  diet, 
regimen,  or  medicine,  should  be  excluded  from  the  sick 
chamber. 

Following  these  intimations,  we  shall  find  that  articles 
of  the  second  and  third  class  (page  134)  will  not  be 
demanded  till  there  is  decided  convalescence,  and  then 
the  soluble  portions.  These  sustain  life  without  fur- 
nishing 4bre  for  the  muscles  or  solid  phosphates  for 
bones,  and  are,  therefore,  called  for  before  the  muscles 
can  be  used.  Beef  tea,  or  broth  from  lean  meat  or 
chicken,  for  example,  in  which  are  infused  the  albumen 
and  soluble  phosphates,  the  one  furnishing  food  for  the 
dormant  tissues,  and  the  other  nervous  or  vital  power  ^ 
while  the  appetite  for  solid  meat  or  fish  will  be  reserved 
till  the  muscles  shall  require  fibre  for  use,  and  the  bones 
the  solid  phosphates.  Liquid  food,  therefore,  is  all  that 
is  needed  in  severe  sickness  of  any  kind,  and  such  food 
is  generally  all  that  the  appetite  craves  or  the  stomach 
will  receive.  Sometimes,  however,  the  appetite,  having 
been  blunted  by  some  interference  in  giving  nutriment 
in  spite  of  her  remonstrances,  ceases  to  demand  the 
right  food  at  the  right  time,  and  we  are  obliged  to  use 
judgment  in  adapting  the  nutriment  to  circumstances. 
In  that  case  great  assistance  may  be  obtained  from  the 
Dietetic  Tables  ; when  there  is  too  much  heat,  abstaining 
from  the  carbonates,  except  as  nature  has  combined 
them  with  cooling  acid,  as  in  the  succulent  fruits,  and 
when  cold  and  lifeless,  giving  some  easily-digested  car- 
bonate, as  starch,  or  some  of  the  life-giving  nitrates 
and  phosphates,  as  in  the  broth  of  meats,  or  the  phos- 
ohatic  flesh  of  the  active  fishes  or  birds. 


WHEN  THE  DIGESTIVE  OKGANS  MUST  REST.  279 

The  fourth  class  of  representative  articles  of  food, 
beinof  in  its  characteristic  effects  rather  mechanical  than 
vital,  is  to  be  selected  with  reference  to  the  condition 
of  the  digestive  organs.  If  there  is  inactivity  of  the 
stomach,  or  bowels,  or  liver,  and  constipation  is  the  con- 
sequence, then  this  class  of  food  should  be  freely  used ; 
but  if,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  irritability  of  these 
organs,  and  diarrhoea,  dysentery,  or  cholera,  then  these 
organs  should  be  permitted  to  rest  from  the  natural  influ- 
ences of  waste,  which  are  necessary  in  health,  and  nutri- 
ment be  taken,  like  the  juice  of  beef,  flour  porridge,  &c., 
which  contain  no  waste ; just  as  in  inflammation  of  the 
eye,  we  shut  out  the  light,  and  give  it  rest  and  time  to 
recover,  or  in  inflammation  of  the  brain,  we  prohibit 
all  exciting  influences,  and  abstain  from  all  phosphatic 
food,  using  only  common  sense  in  the  application  of 
the  laws  of  our  being  to  our  particular  circumstances, 
as  the  farmer  uses  it  in  supplying  the  necessary  elements 
for  the  crop  to  be  produced,  and  allowing  the  land  to 
rest  when  overworked  and  sick. 

The  Development  and  Preservation  of  our  Faculties 

Demand  appropriate  food  and  drink,  taken  at  proper 
imes  and  in  suitable  quantities ; appropriate  sleep  and 
^est  for  all  the  faculties,  alternated  with  regular  and 
appropriate  exercise  ; suitable  protection  from  the  cold, 
purity  of  the  air  night  and  day,  personal  cleanliness, 
avoiding  sudden  changes  of  habits  or  temperature, 
Keeping  out  ol‘  the  stomach  everything  injurious,  and 


280 


THE  LAWS  OF  NUTEITION. 


the  right  use  of  the  means  which  God  has  provided 
for  restoring  to  health  the  oi'gans  and  faculties  which 
may  become  diseased. 

On  each  of  these  subjects  might  be  written  an  elab- 
orate treatise,  biit  I propose  to  write  a chapter  only, 
to  show  as  clearly  and  familiarly  as  possible  the  indica- 
tions of  Nature  as  to  the  principles  which  are  to  guide 
us  in  these  important  matters.  First, 

The  Laws  of  Nutrition. 

Every  living  thing  requires  nourishment,  and  every 
living  thing  is  provided  with  food  within  its  own  reach, 
just  adapted  to  its  own  peculiar  wants  ; and  every  liv- 
ing thing  but  man  is  provided  with  instinctive  powers 
to  appropriate  to  its  use  just  the  elements  that  are 
needed,  and,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  to  reject 
every  element  that  is  not  needed  or  is  hurtful,  as  I 
have  already  explained.  It  is  interesting  to  notice  the 
wonderful  provision  of  Nature,  by  which  every  creature, 
from  the  elephant  to  the  minutest  animalcule,  comes 
into  life  just  where  and  when  its  natural  food  is  ready 
for  it. 

See  the  paterfamilias  of  the  canker-worm  family, 
tugging  up  the  trunk  of  the  apple-tree  with  his  helpless 
wife  on  his  back,  to  place  her  where  she  can  deposit 
her  esrofs  beside  the  buds  out  of  which  is  to  come  the 
tender  leaf  by  the  influence  of  the  same  degree  of  heat 
that  will  hatch  its  eggs,  so  that  the  young  worm  will 
nave  food  fitted  for  it  at  just  the  right  time  ! And  the 


WONDEEFUL  PROVISIONS  OF  NATURE. 


281 


provision  by  which  a similar  result  is  effected  with  other 
creatures  is  still  more  remarkable. 

The  larva  of  a species  of  gad-fly  can  live  and  grow 
only  in  the  intestines  of  the  horse,  and  the  whole  life 
of  the  fly  after  it  has  obtained  wings,  which  is  only  a 
few  days,  is  devoted  to  the  task  of  depositing  on  the 
legs  of  the  horse  its  eggs.  These  eggs  are  covered  with 
gluten,  by  which  they  adhere  to  the  hairs,  and  binding 
them  together  produce  an  irritation,  and,  trying  to  re- 
lieve that  tickling  with  the  teeth,  some  of  the  eggs 
adhere  to  the  teeth  and  are  swallowed,  and  thus  arrive 
at  their  destination  ; and  it  is  remarkable  that  the  eggs 
are  never  deposited  on  any  parts  of  the  horse  except 
those  which  can  be  reached  and  relieved  of  irritation 
by  the  teeth,  otherwise  they  would  lose  all  chances  of 
arriving  at  their  destination. 

Another  species  of  fly  can  be  produced  only  in  cap- 
sicum (Cayenne  pepper).  The  fly  is,  of  course,  not 
very  often  seen  in  this  country ; but  I have  seen,  in  a 
neglected  pepper-box,  a flourishing  family  luxuriating 
and  developing  into  perfect  flies  on  their  natural  ele- 
ments. 

But  the  most  remarkable  example  of  complicated  and 
far-seeing  provision  of  nature  to  bring  a living  creature 
into  the  situation  where  its  natural  food  is  provided, 
which  has  yet  been  brought  out  from  Nature’s  great 
storehouse  of  wonderful  things,  is  found  in  the  tape- 
worm. The  facts  on  which  this  statement  rests  were 
developed  by  a learned  and  persevering  German,  whose 
name  is  Kiichenmeister. 


282 


THE  OEIGIN  OF  THE  TAPE-WORM. 


It  has  long  been  known  that  small  sacks,  or  cysts, 
containing,  together  with  serum,  a rudimentary  form  of 
animal  life,  are  sometimes  found  in  the  liver  and  other 
organs,  and  sometimes  in  the  flesh  of  the  hog  and  other 
animals  ; and  hogs  thus  infested  are  said  to  be  ” measly,'^'* 
If  this  pork  is  eaten  uncooked,  as  it  frequently  is  in 
Germany,  in  Bologna  sausages,  and  in  ham  made  into 
sandwiches,  and  sometimes  in  this  country  in  uncooked 
fat  pork,  and  one  of  these  cysts  enters  the  stomach,  the 
sack  is  broken,  and  the  young  tape-worm,  having  ar- 
rived at  its  natural  home,  commences  life  in  its  own 
peculiar  way.  At  first  it  has  only  a head  and  four 
suckers,  through  which  it  draws  its  nutriment  from  the. 
coats  of  the  stomach,  and  a double  circle  of  hooks,  with 
which  it  attaches  itself  firmly  to  the  side  of  the  stomach 
on  the  mucous  membrane.  Here  it  remains  during  its 
lifetime ; but  its  body,  consisting  of  joints  like  pieces 
of  tape,  from  one  quarter  to  one  half  inch  in  length, 
grows,  one  joint  after  another,  from  the  head  extending 
itself  in  the  stomach  and  among  the  intestines,  till  it 
reaches  the  length  of  ten,  twenty,  thirty,  and  some- 
times forty  or  fifty  feet,  new  joints  being  constantly 
formed  from  the  head,  and  pushing  the  old  ones  away, 
and  thus  the  joints  farthest  from  the  head  are  oldest  and 
most  mature.  These  joints,  after  a while,  break  off*  in 
pieces,  sometimes  of  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  long;  each 
joint  containing  numerous  eggs  or  germs,  are  cast  off*, 
and  if  they  find  a lodgment  on  the  grass  or  in  water, 
where  they  may  be  taken  into  the  stomach  of  another 
animal,  are  hatched  in  their  stomach,  arid  in  their  first 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  TAPE-WORM. 


288 


form  have  the  power  of  crawling  through  the  integu- 
ments into  the  liver  or  flesh,  forming  new  cysts  or  sacks, 
and  thus  are  prepared  again  to  be  taken  into  the  human 
stomach,  to  go  again  their  rounds.  The  eggs  will  not 
hatch  except  in  the  stomach  of  a quadruped ; and  the 
developed  animal  cannot  live  except  in  the  human  stom- 
ach. The  only  chance,  therefore,  of  perpetuating  itself 
is,  first,  the  chance  that  some  animal  which  is  eaten  by 
man  shall  get  an  egg  into  its  stomach,  and  that  some 
man  shall  get  it  after  the  first  process  of  development 
into  his  stomach,  which  chance  would  seem  to  be  very 
small  in  this  country,  where  so  little  raw  meat  is  eaten, 
and  where  so  few  animals  have  access  to  the  means  of 
obtaining  the  eggs. 

While,  therefore,  every  tape-worm  may,  in  the  course 
of  its  life  (sometimes  of  many  years) , cast  off*  as  many 
eggs  as  there  are  inhabitants  on  the  face  of  the  earth, 
the  chances  of  the  conditions  being  fulfilled,  on  which 
their  perpetuation  depends,  are  so  small  that,  in  this 
country,  it  is  very  rarely  found.  When  once  it  gets 
hold,  however,  it  is  very  difficult  to  dislodge  it.  I once 
gave  two  ounces  of  spirits  of  turpentine,  which  brought 
away  twenty-five  feet  of  the  worm  ; but  the  head  re- 
mained, and  the  creature  still  lived  and  flourished. 

To  prove  that  the  tape-worm  is  developed  from  the 
cysts  taken  from  measly  pork,  Kiichenmeister  performed 
the  following  experiment  on  a criminal  condemned  to 
death:  He  administered,  during  three  days,  seventy- 
five  of  these  cysts,  giving  them  time  to  develop  before 
execution.  After  execution  he  found  ten  young  tape- 


284 


THE  NATURAL  FOOD  FOR  MAN. 


VTOrms  in  the  intestines,  six  of  which  were  destitute 
of  hooks ; but  the  remaining  four  were  attached  by 
their  hooks  to  the  mucous  membrane. 

And  to  prove  the  other  part  of  the  theory,  some  pigs 
were  fed  with  segments  of  tape-worm,  and  subsequently 
killed.  The  flesh  was  fllled  with  the  cysts  in  different 
stages  of  development,  from  the  first  commencement  to 
the  perfect  formation,  in  proportion  to  the  amount  eaten 
and  the  time  which  had  elapsed,  while  a pig  of  the 
same  litter,  not  so  fed,  was  entirely  free  from  this  for- 
mation.^ 

And  that  interesting  parasite,  called  louse^  can  live 
only  on  its  own  animal  or  plant,  and  if  transferred 
to  any  other  species  will  soon  starve ; and  thus  every 
living  thing  is  provided  with  its  appropriate  food,  and 
with  means  of  getting  it  in  its  own  limited  sphere. 

But  man  has  no  limits  to  his  range  of  enterprise,  and 
no  limit  to  the  variety  of  food  on  which  he  can  subsist ; 
and  yet  no  animal  has  such  a struggle  with  difficulties’, 
not  only  in  selecting  food  suitable  for  his  powers  of 
digestion,  but  in  adapting  it  to  his  varied  circumstances. 

What  is  the  Natural  Food  for  Man? 

When  God  created  man,  he  gave  him  for  meat  ''ev- 
ery herb  bearing  seed  which  is  upon  the  face  of  the 
earth,  and  every  tree  in  the  which  is  the  fruit  of  a tree 
yielding  seed ; ” and  when,  afterwards,  he  blessed  Noah 


^ See  KUchenmeister’s  Manual  of  Animal  and  Vegetable  Parasites. 


NECESSITY  FOR  VARIETY  OF  FOOD. 


285 


for  his  faithfulness,  he  gave  him,  in  addition  to  his  bill 
of  fare,  ” every  beast  of  the  earth  and  every  fowl  of  the 
air,”  '"and  all  the  fishes  of  the  sea,”  and  told  him  that 
''every  moving  thing  that  liveth  shall  be  meat  for  him, 
even  as  the  green  herb.” 

This  would  enable  him  to  fulfil  his  destiny,  and  have 
dominion  over  all  other  creatures,  and  to  live  with  the 
polar  bear  almost  at  the  north  pole,  or  with  the  monkey 
at  the  equator,  having  in  each  of  these  extremes  of 
temperature  food  adapted  to*  his  wants.  Wherever  he 
chooses  to  live,  in  a cold,  or  hot,  or  temperate  climate, 
he  finds  pre^pared  at  his  hand  the  kind  of  food  best 
adapted  to  his  wants,  and  has  a relish  for  just  the  ar- 
ticle best  fitted  to  supply  his  wants.  If  he  lives  in 
Greenland,  he  desires  and  has  the  heat-producing  fat 
of  whales  and  seals,  the  very  thought  of  which  would 
disgust  him  in  Africa ; and  if  in  Africa,  he  desires  and 
has  the  cooling  fruits  and  vegetables  which  would 
freeze  him  to  death  in  Greenland ; and  in  the  climate 
where  cold  and  heat  alternate,  he  has  all  the  variety 
best  adapted  to  his  changing  circumstances. 

To  comprehend  the  necessity  of  this  variety  of  food, 
and  to  understand  the  principle  on  which  we  can  adapt 
our  food  to  the  different  conditions  and  employments 
of  life,  it  will  be  necessary  first  to  understand  the 
physiological  necessity  for  food.  Besides  the  necessity 
of  providing  for  the  growth  of  the  young,  food  is  neces- 
sary, principally,  for  three  essential  purposes  : — 

1.  To  supply  the  waste  which  is  constantly  going  on 
in  the  tissues,  especially  in  the  muscular  or  moving 
part  of  the  system. 


286  man’s  condition  befoee  the  fall. 


2.  To  supply  the  fat  and  the  animal  heat  of  the 
system. 

3.  To  supply  food  for  the  brain  and  nervous  sys- 
tem, the  bones  and  solid  tissues,  and  some  essential 
elements  in  pure  red  blood. 

Now,  if  we  examine  any  one  article  in  its  natural 
state  in  the  whole  bill  of  fare  which  God  has  given  us, 
either  of  the  vegetable  or  animal  kingdom,  we  shall 
find  these  three  classes  of  elements,  but  find  them 
combined  in  different  proportions,  and  find  them  most- 
ly, also,  in  a condition  to  require  some  cooking  to  fit 
them  for  digestion,  and  thus  find  exercise  for  our 
mental  faculties,  both  in  selecting  food  and  cooking  it, 
so  as  to  adapt  it  to  our  varying  circumstances. 

In  this  respect  man,  and  all  other  animals,  are  placed 
in  very  different  circumstances.  All  animals  but  man 
are  endowed  with  instincts  to  direct  them  to  the  right 
food  which  is  prepared  for  them,  and  which  requires 
no  cooking  and  no  preparation  ; but  the  destiny  of  man 
was,  that  he  should  use  his  intellect  to  study  Nature’s 
laws,  and  to  use  them  in  the  selection  of  appropriate 
food,  and  in  preparing  it  for  digestion. 

What  his  condition  in  regard  to  food  was  before  the 
fall,  is  not  clearly  revealed ; but  even  in  the  garden 
of  Eden  he  had  something  to  do,  for  it  is  said,  And 
the  Lord  God  took  the  man  and  put  him  into  the 
garden  of  Eden,  to  dress  it  and  keep  it.” 

But  after  the  fall,  his  condition  is  clearly  revealed  to 
Adam  in  these  awful  sentences  : " Cursed  is  the  ground 
for  thy  sake.  In  sorrow  shalt  thou  eat  of  it  all  the 


man’s  condition  afteh  the  fall. 


287 


days  of  thj  life.”  "Thorns  also,  and  thistles  shall  it 
bring  forth  to  thee,  and  thou  shalt  eat  of  the  herb  of 
the  field.”  " In  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat 
bread  till  thou  return  unto  the  ground.” 

After  that  sentence,  whatever  his  variety  of  fridts 
and  vegetables  might  have  been  before,  he  seems  to 
have  been  almost  literally  driven  to  the  herb  of  the 
field,  including,  perhaps,  some  farinaceous  seeds  of  the 
grasses,  and  some  wild  fruits'  and  berries,  that  out  of 
them,  by  the  use  of  his  wits  and  by  the  sweat  of  his 
face,  he  should  cultivate  the  grains,  and  fruits,  and 
vegetables,  and  to  the  end  of  time  increase  their 
variety,  iiiiprove  their  taste,  and  fit  them,  not  only  to 
become  the  necessaries,  but  also  the  choicest  luxuries 
of  life.  And  it  is  interesting  to  trace,  as  far  as  we 
may,  our  grains,  delicious  fruits,  and  succulent  vege- 
tables, to  their  original  wild  fruits  and  green  herbs. 

Many  of  our  grains  and  vegetables  were  so  early 
changed  by  cultivation  that  their  history  has  not  been 
preserved,  and  their  original  grass,  or  tree,  or  herb 
cannot  now  be  found  or  recognized ; but  enough  have 
been  traced  to  their  origin,  and  the  wonderful  changes 
noticed  which  have  been  wrought  by  cultivation,  to 
warrant  the  belief  that  farinaceous  grains,  and  our  valu- 
able vegetables  and  fruits,  which  cannot  be  found  wild 
in  any  part  of  the  world,  are  so  changed  by  cultivation 
that  their  original  grasses  or  plants  are  not  recognized. 

Cabbage,  in  all  its  varieties,  cauliflower,  broccoli, 
fee.,  have  all  been  traced  to,  and  cultivated  from  the 
kale,  colwort,  &c.,  which  grew  in  a natural  branching 
way,  without  forming  a head  at  all. 


288  CHANGES  WROUGHT  BY  CULTIVATION. 


Celery  is  cultivated  from  a very  disagreeable  herb, 
called  apium.  All  the  delicious  varieties  of  apples 
came  originally  from  the  crab  apple,  which  grows  wild 
in  every  part  of  England,  and  in  many  parts  of  this 
country,  — a bitter,  sour,  disagreeable  fruit. 

And  the  peach  is  a still  more  remarkable  example 
of  the  effects  of  cultivation  and  change  of  climate. 

When  first  introduced  into  Europe  from  Persia  its 
pulp  was  hard,  disagreeable,  bitter,  and  sour,  resem- 
bling the  pulp  of  a walnut  in  a green  state ; and  it  is 
generally  supposed  that  by  some  change  of  climate  or 
culture  the  green  pulp  of  the  fruit,  or  nut  of  the  al- 
mond, the  pit  or  kernel  of  which  it  almost  exactly  re- 
sembles in  appearance  and  taste,  and  the  botanical 
character  of  which  it  also  very  nearly  resembles,  was 
prevented  from  drying  into  a shell  or  nut,  and  by  con- 
tinued culture  has  come  to  be  a delicious  fruit.  At  any 
rate,  since  its  history  was  first  known  it  has  changed 
from  a disagreeable  substance,  which  afforded  no  nutri- 
ment, to  a very  valuable  and  delicious  fruit. 

Rye,  barley,  wheat,  oats,  &c.,  have  all  the  charac- 
teristics of  the  grasses,  and  the  seeds  of  all  our  common 
grasses,  as  well  as  all  the  grains,  contain  alike  tlie 
nitrates,  the  carbonates,  and  the  phosphates,  and  these 
elements  of  food  are  found  in  all  in  nearly  the  same 
proportions,  and  in  nearly  the  right  proportions,  to 
supply  all  the  wants  of  the  human  system  in  ordinary 
temperatures  and  circumstances.  But  neither  of  these 
grains  is  found  wild  in  any  part  of  the  world,  and  the 
inference  is  fair  that  they  were  changed  from  their 


ORIGIN  OF  INDIAN  CORN. 


289 


Drigiiial  grasses  so  early  and  so  radically  tiiat  their 
identity  has  not  been  transmitted  to  us. 

Our  maize,  or  Indian  corn,  has  also  the  characteris- 
tics of  the  gigantic  grasses,  and  must  have  come  from 
the  same  source  as  the  sugar-cane,  the  sorghum,  and 
broom-corn.  And  this  suppostion,  I think,  is  corrob- 
orated by  a very  curious  circumstance  which  came 
under  my  own  observation.  More  than  twenty-five 
years  ago  some  officers  in  the  United  States  service 
brought  from  Egypt  a mummy,  in  the  integuments  of 
which  were  found  some  peculiar  grains  of  maize.  It 
had  not  probably  been  exposed  to  the  air  for  three 
thousand  years,  and  on  being  planted  it  grew ; but 
the  season  proved  too  short,  and  it  was  not  so  perfected 
as  to  be  capable  of  being  perpetuated.  Some  which 
was  planted  in  my  own  garden  grew  like  common 
Indian  corn,  tasselled  out,  and  grains  of  corn  were 
formed,  not  on  a cob,  but  on  a bundle  of  small  stalks, 
as  if  the  stalks  of  the  top  of  broom-corn  had  been 
firmly  tied  together,  and  had  adhered,  and  the  grains 
of  corn  grew  around  this  bundle  of  sticks  in  a conical 
form.  The  inference  to  my  mind  was,  that  at  the 
period  at  which  this  corn  grew,  the  ear  of  corn  was 
undergoing  a process  of  change  from  the  large  seeded 
umbelliferous  plant,  like  the  broom-corn,  to  the  solid, 
cylindrical  ear,  on  a cob,  as  we  now  find  it. 

The  potato  is  a still  more  recent  and  interesting  illus- 
tration of  the  power  of  climate  and  cultivation  to  trans- 
form a useless  tuberous  root  into  a valuable  article  of 
diet. 


19 


290  OTHER  CONSIDERATIONS  IN  REGARD  TO  FOOD. 


The  plant  from  which  the  potato  is  cultivated  is  now 
oimd  growing  wild  in  Chili  and  Montevideo,  and  is  9 
useless,  gnarly  root ; but  within  the  last  two  or  three 
centuries  it  has  been  changed  into  a standard  article  of 
diet  in  all  Europe  and  North  America,  supporting,  to  a 
great  extent,,  in  some  places,  thousands  of  working 
people. 

Thus,  if  we  will  build  on  Nature’s  own  foundations, 
we  can  improve  almost  every  living  thing,  animal  or 
vegetable,  and  add  to  our  bill  of  fare  indefinitely,  not 
only  the  necessaries  but  the  luxuries  of  life,  still  retain- 
ing all  the  elements  needed  by  the  system ; but  when 
we  attempt  to  improve  our  natural  food,  by  abstracting 
what  we  call  the  best  parts  of  any  article,  we  make  sad 
mistakes,  and  have  to  suffer  the  consequences,  as  we 
have  before  explained. 

Besides  the  appropriate  supply  of  the  elements  re- 
quired for  all  the  organs,  functions,  and  faculties,  other 
considerations  demand  our  attention  in  regard  to  the 
selection  of  articles  of  food. 

Some  articles  of  food  contain  more  nourishment  and 
less  waste  than  others.  Some  require  more  and  some 
less  powers  of  digestion  than  others,  &c. 

Is  that  article  ?nost  wholesome  which  contains  most 
nourishment  ? Certainly  not  in  this  country,  where  we 
all  get  too  much  nourishment.  Food  containing  waste  is 
absolutely  necessary  every  day,  not  only  to  produce  the 
necessary  distention  of  the  stomach  and  intestines,  but 
to  produce  the  natural  stimulant  for  which  this  waste 
was  intended ; and  one  of  the  prominent  evils,  and 


FOOD  EASILY  DIGESTED  NOT  MOST  WHOLESOME.  291 


perhaps  the  greatest  next  to  the  evils  produced  by  the 
want  of  essential  elements,  in  the  use  of  our  fine  flour, 
sugar,  and  butter,  in  their  various  combinations,  is  the 
evil  of  constipation,  which  is  the  natural  consequence 
of  the  too  constant  and  too  exclusive  use  of  these  arti- 
cles, which  contain  no  waste  materials. 

Are  those  articles  which  are  most  easily  digested  the 
most  wholesome  ? Certainly  not,  for  the  stomach,  like 
every  other  organ  and  faculty,  needs  exercise  to  acquire 
or  keep  up  its  energy  and  healthy  action ; and  there- 
fore, on  the  contrary,  that  article  of  food  is  best,  other 
things  being  equal,  which  most  fully  exercises  the 
powers  of  digestion ; but  that  article  is  not  wholesome 
which  overtaxes  these  powers ; just  as  that  muscular 
exercise  is  best  which  most  fully  develops  the  powers 
of  the  muscles,  but  does  not  overtax  them. 

Beans  and  rice,  for  illustration,  contain  nearly  equal 
amounts  of  nutrition,  each  containing  from  eighty  to 
ninety  per  cent.,  and  each  containing  some  of  all  the 
elements  of  nutrition  required,  but  in  different  propor- 
tions, as  we  see  by  the  tables  ; but  the  power  and  time 
required  for  digesting  these  articles  differ  materially, 
beans  being  one  of  the  hardest  and  rice  one  of  the  easiest 
articles  to  be  digested. 

Now  who  can  say,  abstractly,  which  is  most  whole- 
some, beans  or  rice?  To  the  laboring  man,  who  has 
powers  of  digestion  sufficient  for  beans,  they  are  more 
tvholesorne  than  rice,  which  is  too  soon  disposed  of,  and 
too  soon  leaves  a desire  for  other  food,  and  gives  too 
little  strength  of  muscle : but  to  the  sedentary  invalid. 


292 


OSMAZOME. 


whose  powers  of  digestion  are  feeble,  rice  would  be 
wholesome,  while  beans  might  be  distressingly  unwhole- 
some, and  for  a permanent  article  of  diet,  to  be  eaten 
alone,  both  would  be  unwholesome,  as  one  contains  toe 
little  waste  for  the  healthy  action  of  the  bowels,  and  the 
other  too  much. 

Osmazome. 

The  taste  and  appetite  are  placed  as  sentinels  to 
guard  the  portals  of  the  stomach,  and,  through  the 
stomach,  the  whole  system ; and,  under  the  direction 
of  instinct,  in  all  animals  in  their  natural  condition, 
are  absolutely  or  very  nearly  infallible,  both  as  to  ad- 
missions and  rejections.  Offer  an  elephant  a piece  of 
tobacco  or  a glass  of  whiskey,  and  he  will  not  only 
reject  it,  but  reject  you  with  disdain  for  the  insult ; but 
give  him  his  natural  food,  and  he  will  take  all  that  his 
appetite  demands,  and  all  that  would,  be  good  for  him, 
and  no  more. 

The  same  thing  is  true  of  man  till  his  taste  is  per- 
verted. The  little  child  always  relishes  its  natural 
food,  and  may  be  safely  trusted  to  take  of  it  all  he 
wants ; but  offer  him  unnatural  food,  or  unnatural 
drugs  or  medicine,  and  he  rejects  it.  A perverted 
appetite,  however,  cannot  be  trusted,  as  :t  demands 
and  relishes  articles  which  are  positively  hurtful. 

It  is  interesting  to  notice  the  great  variety  and  ex- 
quisite delicacy  with  which  Nature  has  flavored  the 
different  articles  of  food,  no  two  articles  having  the 
same  flavor,  although  in  other  respects  almost  exactly 


FOOD  DIGESTS  BEST  WHICH  TASTES  BEST.  29 


alike.  Beef  and  mutton,  for  example,  contain  the 
same  elements,  and  are  almost  exactly  alike  except  in 
regard  to  the  osmazome,  which  constitutes  their  dis- 
tinctive flavor ; but  this  difference  is  of  very  considera- 
ble importance  practically,  when  we  consider  that  that 
which  relishes  best  always  digests  best.  We  should 
therefore  never  allow  ourselves  to  eat  that  which  is  dis- 
agreeable to  our  own  taste,  whatever  others  may  think 
of  it.  And  this  is  true  of  every  article  of  food  in  the 
animal  or  vegetable  kingdom,  and  other  things  being 
equal,  and  they  generally  are  equal,  that  which  we  love 
best  in  its  natural  state  is  best  for  us. 

Another  noticeable  fact  is,  that  this  osmazome  is  in 
its  perfection  only  when  the  food  is  in  a perfect  condi- 
tion for  digestion.  Those  articles  which  require  cook- 
ing have  their  flavor  mo'st  perfectly  developed  just  at 
the  time  when  they  are  properly  cooked,  and  ready  to 
be  eaten  and  easily  to  be  digested,  and  any  considerable 
delay,  or  a second  cooking,  always. diminishes  the  flavor. 
Beefsteak,  for  example,  is  much  more  palatable  and 
much  more  digestible  when  first  cooked,  than  when  it 
has  been  exposed,  and  its  osmazome  evaporated,  or 
when  warmed  over ; indeed,  all  meats  are  better  when 
once  well  cooked,  to  be  eaten  cold,  than  to  be  warmed 
or  cooked  over,  and  this  is  understood  by  all  cooks,  who 
always  add  some  spices  to  make  meats  palatable  on  a 
second  cooking. 

Soups  from  meats  and  vegetables  have  a much  more 
delicious  flavor  when  made  from  raw  meat  and  vegeta- 
bles than  when  made  from  meat  and  vegetables  previ- 


294  EACH  ARTICLE  OF  FOOD  HAS  ITS  OSMAZOME. 


ously  cooked,  and  the  most  delicious  soups  are  made 
without  other  spices  than  are  found  in  vegetables  and 
meats.  Most  meats  and  vegetables  become,  by  fre- 
quent cooking,  so  insipid  as  to  be  unpalatable  and 
unwholesome,  as  I have  elsewhere  explained,  merely 
from  the  loss  of  the  osmazome  ; and  this  natural  stim  - 
ulant  of  digestion  can  be  only  very  imperfectly  supplied 
by  aromatic  condiments.  On  the  other  hand  berries, 
and  the  rich  fruits  which  need  no  cooking,  have  their 
most  delicious  flavor  already  developed,  and  any  attempt 
at  improving  them  by  cooking  only  makes  them  less 
palatable  and  less  digestible. 

We  have,  therefore,  a clear  intimation  that  we  should 
consult  our  appetite  and  taste,  both  in  regard  to  the  kind 
of  food  and  to  the  manner  of  preparing  it. 

No  one  can  realize  till  he  tries  it,  what  an  amount  of 
real  enjoyment  can  be  added  to  life  by  simply  studying 
Nature’s  laws  in  regard  to  food,  and  by  applying  them 
to  every-day  life,  in  the  mere  enjoyment  of  meals,  as 
well  as  in  the  freedom  from  sickness  and  pain,  and  in 
the  increased  value  of  all  our  faculties.  And  these 
laws  are  very  simple  and  easily  understood. 

In  every  variety  of  food  furnished  for  man  on  the 
face  of  the  earth,  every  article  contains  in  its  natural 
state,  with  all  other  essential  elements,  that  peculiar 
element  called  osmazome,  which  is  in  correspondence 
with  the  wants  of  the  system  at  all  times,  and  induces 
an  appetite  and  relish  for  just  the  article  most  needed. 
The  osmazome  of  whale  oil,  for  example,  would  be 
rery  disgusting  to  a man  living  under  tha  equator, 


CONDIMENTS. 


2% 


while  to  a man  exposed  to  the  cold  of  Lapland  nothing 
could  be  more  agreeable ; and  the  orange,  which  is  so 
delicious  in  warm  climates,  would  have  no  attractions 
for  one  living  in  cold  climates. 


Condiments. 

In  view  of  the  fact,  so  clearly  revealed,  that  food,  to 
be  well  digested,  must  be  made  to  relish,  condiments 
are  of  no  small  importance  in  the  philosophy  of  cook- 
ing ; for,  though  Nature  has  furnished  to  all  suitable 
food  in  its  natural  state,  when  properly  cooked,  all 
that  is  needed,  except  salt,  to  make  it  palatable  and 
digestible,  still  it  is  quite  impossible  always  to  get  our 
food  in  just  the  right  condition,  and  to  eat  it  while  the 
osmazome  remains.  We  often  need  a substitute  for 
the  natural  flavor,  and  Nature  seems  to  have  furnished 
that  substitute  in  the  aromatic  herbs,  and  seeds,  and 
flowers.  Certain  it  is,  that  mixed  food,  or  re-cooked 
food,  as  minced  meat,  or  sausages,  or  soups  from  re- 
cooked meats  and  vegetables,  are  made  more  digestible 
by  being  made  palatable  with  condiments  ; but  in  this, 
as  in  everything  else,  that  cooking  is  best  which  best 
imitates  Nature.  The  flavors  of  all  natural  and  valu- 
able food  are  delicate,  not  strong  or  pungent,  except  in 
the  onion,  and  other  worthless  articles ; and  to  all  but 
perverted  tastes  food  is  most  agreeable  which  is  only 
delicately  flavored,  and  nothing  can  be  more  certain 
than  that  the  pungent  spices,  as  horse-radish,  mustard, 
cloves,  red  pepper,  &c.,  any  one  of  which,  if  applied 


296 


SALT. 


to  the  skin,  would  produce  inflammation,  must  be  inju- 
rious to  the  delicate  stomach,  as  they  are  generally 
used.  This,  indeed,  has  been  proved  beyond  all  doubt. 
All  condiments,  indeed,  must  be  used  as  a choice  of 
evils.  If  we  could  at  all  times  get  the  requsite  ele- 
ments of  food,  either  from  the  beasts  of  the  field,  or 
the  fowl  of  the  air,  or  the  grains,  and  vegetables,  and 
fruits,  just  when  they  have  their  natural  osmazome  fully 
developed,  we  should  need  no  condiments ; but  if  we 
cannot  get  appropriate  food  till  after  its  natural  flavor 
has  evaporated,  or  has  been  dissipated  by  re-cooking, 
then  some  delicate  condiments  are  useful  to  make  it 
palatable  and  digestible.  When  obliged  to  dine  on 
food  that  is  not  relished,  the  stomach  is  oppressed,  and 
the  food  remains  undigested  till  we  take  a bit  of  cheese, 
or  a few  nuts  or  raisins,  or  some  agreeable  condiment, 
which,  though  indigestible  in  themselves,  will  arouse 
the  stomach  to  action,  and  the  dinner  will  be  digested. 

Some  part,  at  least,  of  every  meal  must  have  an 
aoTeeable  flavor  in  order  to  be  well  digested.  For 
this  reason,  a small  cup  of  aromatic  coffee  will  some- 
times make  amends  for  a very  poor  dinner ; but  a little 
is  better  than  more. 

Salt 

Salt  has  some  characteristics  peculiar  to  itself,  differ- 
ing from  all  other  elements  or  compounds,  organic  or 
inorganic.  It  is  not  in  any  sense  nutriment,  as  it  does 
not  furnish  support  to  any  organ  or  function,  and  does 
nothing  towards  sustaining  life,  as  has  been  often  proved 


SALT. 


297 


in  the  shipwrecked  and  famishing  sailor,  who,  instead  of 
relieving  his  sufferings,  has  added  to  them  by  taking 
salt  water,  even  in  very  small  quantities.  Neither  is  it 
a chemical  agent,  combining  with  some  other  element 
in  the  system  to  effect  a necessary  change,  as  the  acids 
combine  with  alkaline  bases  and  remove  effete  matter 
from  the  system  in  the  excretions.  It  is  chloride  of 
sodium,  wherever  found,  in  the  stomach,  in  the  blood, 
or  in  the  excretions,  and  what  its  office  is  in  the  system, 
is  not  known ; but  undoubtedly  it  has  some  beneficial 
influence  besides  its  use  as  a condiment.  This  seems  to 
be  indicated  by  the  fact  that  other  animals  seem  to  re- 
quire salt,  and  have  a natural  desire  for  it,  and  seem  to 
suffer  if  for  a length  of  time  they  are  deprived  of  it. 

And  this  is  not  confined  to  domesticated  animals,  as 
the  buffalo  and  the  deer  of  the  western  prairies  make 
paths  to  the  salt  licks  by  their  frequent  visits  after  salt. 

Still  it  is  not  an  absolute  necessity  in  the  animal 
economy,  at  least  not  farther  than  may  be  met  by  the 
chloride  of  sodium,  which  is  found  in  almost  all  animal 
and  vegetable  food,  as  whole  nations  of  men  and  theii 
domestic  animals  live  without  salt,  except  as  it  is  found 
in  food ; and  this  relieves  us  from  the  apparent  excej3- 
tion  which  salt  furnishes  to  the  law  which  I have  en- 
deavored to  develop,  — that  all  elements  to  be  incor- 
porated into  the  human  system,  or  any  other  animal 
system,  must  first  be  organized  in  some  vegetable. 

There  is  enough  salt  in  common,  natural  food,  to  ac- 
count for  all  the  salt  actually  incorporated  in  the  system  ; 
indeed,  it  is  yet  an  unsettled  physiological  question 


298 


SALT. 


whether  any  salt  is  actually  incorporated  in  the  blood 
or  in  any  of  the  organs. 

But  whatever  else  is  accomplished  in  the  system  by 
Balt,  its  essential  use  is  that  of  a condiment,  exciting 
the  secretory  organs  to  do  their  duty.  Certain  it  is  that 
it  does  incite  to  action  the  salivary  and  other  glands. 
Take  in  the  mouth  a bit  of  salt  fish,  or  bacon,  or  any 
other  savory  article,  and  the  mouth  is  immediately  filled 
with  j^aliva ; and  when  it  is  received  into  the  stomach, 
the  gastric  juice  also  immediately  gushes  out.  Of  these 
effects  on  the  glands  of  the  mouth  and  stomach  we  can 
have  no  doubt,  as  they  are  under  the  observation  of 
our  senses  ; but  of  the  effects  on  the  liver,  the  pan- 
creas, and  the  other  glands,  we  have  only  to  judge  by 
inference ; but  the  inference  is  certainly  fair  if  the 
glandular  system,  as  far  as  we  can  know,  is  stimu- 
lated to  action  by  salt;  the  other  glands,  whose  action 
we  cannot  observe,  but  whose  duties  are  also  connected 
with  the  process  of  digestion,  may  also  be  affected 
by  the  same  agent.  My  conclusion,  therefore,  is,  that 
salt,  like  other  condiments,  promotes  digestion  by  ex- 
citing the  glands  and  inducing  the  production  and 
flow  of  their  secretions.  And  the  principal  value  of 
the  salt  is  in  its  savor  ; so  that  the  question,  ” If  the  salt 
have  lost  its  savor,  wherewith  shall  it  be  salted  ? ” like 
all  other  questions  from  the  divine  Master,  contained  a 
philosophical  truth  as  well  as  an  apt  illustration. 

Like  all  other  condiments,  salt  is  useful  or  injurious, 
according  as  it  is  taken  in  large  or  small  quantlties. 
A little  gives  a better  relish  than  more,  and  therefore  is 


CONDIMENTS. 


29S 


more  useful,  while  the  larger  the  quantity  the  more  in- 
jurious. The  only  rule,  therefore,  for  the  use  of  it  is  to 
use  as  little  as  will  give  to  food  a relish  ; and  the  amount 
necessary  for  that  depends  very  much  on  habit,  except  in 
regard  to  that  which  is  found  in  plants  and  the  flesh  of 
animals.  Salt  is  an  inorganic  substance,  and  the  only 
one  demanded  and  extensively  used  as  a condiment,  and 
the  only  one  so  universally  and  so  abundantly  furnished  ; 
and  this  fact  alone  would  indicate  its  importance  in  the 
animal  economy ; but  some  nations  of  men,  and  some 
animals  in  every  nation,  do  not  require  salt  ; and  to 
some,  as  the  birds,  it  is  a poison,  in  quite  small  quan- 
tities ; and  this  fact,  on  the  other  hand,  would  indicate 
that  it  is  not,  like  the  nutritive  elements,  necessary  for 
the  support  of  animal  life. 

Other  condiments  are  from  the  vegetable  kingdom, 
and  mostly  from  tropical  climates  ; and , from  the  very 
narrow  range  of  temperature  to  which  the  most  aromatic 
are  limited,  we  may  infer  that  they  were  not  intended 
for  universal  use ; but  each  probably  possesses  some 
medicinal  quality  adapted  to  some  peculiarity  of  the 
diseases  of  its  own  locality. 

The  cinnamon  is  said  to  be  indigenous  only  to  the 
Island  of  Ceylon,  and  even  there  is  confined  to  a small 
district  in  the  south-western  part  of  that  island. 

The  clove  is  a native  of  the  Molucca  Islands,  and  the 
nutmeg  of  the  same  islands.  Ginger  is  a native  of  the 
south-east  coast  of  Asia  and  the  adjacent  islands.  The 
pimento  or  allspice  grows  spontaneously  in  Jamaica, 
and  one  writer  says,  ”it  is  purely  a child  of  Nature, 


300 


CONDIMENTS. 


and  seems  to  mock  all  the  labors  of  man  in  his  endeav- 
ors to  extend  or  improve  its  growth  : not  one  attempt 
in  fifty  to  propagate  the  young  plants,  or  to  raise  their 
seeds,  in  parts  of  the  country  where  it  is  not  found 
growing  spontaneously,  having  succeeded.”  These 
spices,  therefore,  were  evidently  not  intended  for  uni- 
versal use ; nevertheless,  upon  the  principles  which  I 
have  elsewhere  explained,  they  may  be  useful  in  pro- 
moting the  digestibility  of  food  which  is  destitute  of,  or 
deficient  in  osmazome ; not  by  any  special  virtue  in 
them,  but  upon  the  general  principle,  that  whatever 
agrees  with  the  taste  excites  the  glands  to  secrete  the 
fluids  necessary  for  digestion. 

Sometimes  a deficiency  in  these  digestive  fluids  is  the 
cause  of  a want  of  appetite,  and  the  appetite  craves 
something  savory ; and,  taking  a hint  from  this  instinc- 
tive demand  of  Nature,  I have,  for  the  last  twenty-five 
years,  practised  giving  a sick  patient,  especially  after 
passing  the  crisis  of  disease,  a little  of  anything  whicl\ 
the  appetite  demanded.  Salt  fish,  smoked  ham,  pickles, 
anything  else  savory  and  agreeable  at  the  time  to  the 
patient,  by  only  being  chewed  and  held  in  the  mouth 
will  excite  the  secretions,  and  then  the  stomach  will  be 
prepared  for  simple  and  natural  nourishment,  and  will 
call  for  it,  as  before  stated. 

This  practice  may  be  carried  too  far,  and  is  frequently, 
in  warm  weather  and  warm  climates,  where  carbonaceous 
food  is  not  needed.  The  appetite  is  then  stimulated  by 
the  pungent  spices,  wliich  do  harm  not  only  by  their 
own  exciting  influence,  but  by  inducing  the  taking  of 


CONDIMENTS. 


301 


unnatural  and  stimulating  food.  In  this  way  the  people 
of  our  Southern  States  prepare  themselves  for  the  bil- 
ious fevers  and  other  diseases  which  carry  off  so  many ; 
and  this  has  been  proved  by  the  fact  that  those  among 
them  who  have  sense  enough  to  abstain  from  alcohol, 
spices,  and  pork,  and  live  on  the  cooling  fniits,  and 
vegetables,  and  grains  of  their  own  climate,  are  exempt 
from  these  diseases. 

Those  spices  are  best  which  are  best  relished,  as  their 
value  consists  in  gratifying  the  taste,  and  thus  exciting 
the  secretions.  Of  course  no  one  can  judge  for  an 
other  in  regard  to  the  spice  to  be  used  ; and  cooks  must 
not  consult  their  own  taste,  but  the  taste  of  the  family 
for  whom  they  cook ; for  a spice  that  may  be  highly 
relished  by  one,  and  therefore  wholesome,  may  for  an- 
other be  disagreeable  and  unwholesome.  The  rules, 
therefore,  for  selecting  and  using  spices  are  very  simple  : 
First,  use  none  at  all  with  food  that  can  be  relished 
without  it.  Second,  use  that  which  best  agrees  with 
the  natural  taste.  Third,  use  the  smallest  quantity  that 
will  be  satisfactory  to  the  unperverted  taste,  and  never 
allow  the  quantity  to  be  increased.  Our  gustatory 
pleasui’es,  like  all  other  pleasures  of  life,  are  best  en- 
joyed by  the  moderate  use  of  the  good  things  that  are 
kindly  provided  for  us.  And  the  greatest  suiFerings 
which  come  from  them,  come,  as  do  most  of  our  phys- 
ical sufferings,  from  deceiving  ourselves  with  the  idea 
ihat  if  a little  of  any  good  thing  will  give  us  pleasure, 
the  pleasure  may  be  increased  by  increasing  the  quan- 
tity. Instead,  therefore,  of  being  contented  with  the 


302 


CINNAMON. 


delicate  and  wholesome  flavor  which  may  be  imparted 
by  a very  little  pepper  or  any  other  spice,  we  are  in- 
clined to  increase  the  amount,  till  we  take  into  the  deli- 
cate stomach  these  spices  of  strength  sufficient  to  draw 
a blister  on  the  skin  if  applied  to  it,  — and  can  they  fail 
10  be  injurious  ? 

Cinuamou. 

Cinnamon  is  the  bark  of  twigs  or  young  shoots  of  a 
tree  which  grows  in  Ceylon  to  the  height  of  twenty  or 
thirty  feet.  It  has  been  the  source  of  a great  trade  for 
more  than  three  hundred  years,  and  its  fragrance  has 
been  admired  from  time  immemorial.  By  a report  of 
the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  made  some  years  since,  it  is 
stated  that  the  number  of  people  engaged  in  the  cinna- 
mon department  of  trade  was  from  twenty-five  to  twen- 
ty-six thousand  persons,  and  that  the  amount  exported 
was  two  hundred  thousand  tons. 

At  one  time,  when  under  Dutch  government  and  mo- 
nopoly, the  degree  of  rigor  with  which  this  monopoly 
was  maintained  was  so  great  that  " the  selling  or  giving 
away  the  smallest  quantity  of  cinnamon  (even  were  it 
but  the  single  stick) , the  exporting  of  it,  the  peeling  of 
the  bark,  extracting  the  oil  either  from  that  or  the 
leaves,  or  the  camphor  from  the  roots,  except  by  the 
servants  of  the  government,  and  by  their  order,  as  well 
us  the  wilful  injuring  of  a cinnamon  plant,  were  all 
made  crimes  punishable  with  deaths  both  on  the  persons 
committing  them,  and  upon  every  servant  of  government 
who  should  connive  at  it.”  * 


Bertolacci’s  Ceylon,  p.  241. 


CASSIA.  — CLOVE. 


303 


And  in  order  to  keep  up  the  price  when  the  supply 
was  greater  than  the  demand,  the  government  ordered 
the  destruction  of  all  the  surplus.  ”M.  Beaumere  re- 
lates that  on  the  10th  of  June,  1760,  he  beheld,  near 
the  admiralty  at  Amsterdam,  a blazing  pile  of  these 
aromatics,  which  were  valued  at  eight  millions  of  livres, 
and  an  equal  quantity  was  burnt  the  next  day.  The 
air  was  perfumed  with  this  incense;  the  essential  oils, 
freed  from  their  confinement,  distilled  over,  mixing  in 

one  spicy  stream,  which  flowed  at  the  feet  of  the  spec- 

0 

tators ; but  no  person  was  suffered  to  collect  any  of 
this,  nor,  on  pain  of  heavy  punishment,  to  rescue  the 
smallest  quantity  of  the  spice  from  the  wasting  ele- 
ments.” * 


Cassia. 

Cassia  is  supposed  to  be  an  inferior  quality  of  cinna- 
mon, and  to  come  from  a variety  of  the  same  species 
of  tree  ; but  botanists  consider  it  a distinct  species.  It 
is  not  brought  from  Ceylon,  but  principally  from  China, 
and  both  the  bark  and  buds  are  used.  They  have  the 
same  kind  of  aroma  as  cinnamon,  but  inferior  in  de- 
gree of  flavor. 

Clove. 

Europeans  are  said  to  have  known  this  spice  for 
more  than  two  thousand  years.  It  is  a product  of  the 
Molucca  Islands,  and  was  for  a long  time  under  the 

♦ Lankester’s  Vegetable  Substances  used  for  the  Food  of  Man, 

p.  202. 


304 


NUTMEG.  — GINGER. 


control  of  the  Dutch  government,  who  monopolized  the 
trade  in  this  as  other  spices,  having  driven  off  the 
Portuguese,  who  first  discovered  the  source  from  which 
it  came  to  Europe.  It  is  the  product  of  a beautiful 
tree,  every  part  of  which  is  fragrant ; but  the  only  part 
used  is  the  calyx  of  the  flower,  which,  while  in  the 
form  of  an  elongated  bud,  is  beaten  from  the  tree  and 
dried  for  the  market.  It  has  an  exceedingly  pungent 
flavor,  and  should  therefore  be  used  only  in  very  small 
quantities. 

Nutmeg, 

The  nutmeg  is  the  kernel  of  the  fruit  of  a beautiful 
tree,  a native  also  of  the  Moluccas ; but  now  cultivated 
in  many  islands,  and  in  the  southern  part  of  the  penin- 
sula of  India,  the  mountains,  and  some  other  places. 
The  tree  furnishes  two  spices,  the  nutmeg  or  kernel, 
and  the  mace,  which  is  the  membranous  tunic  or  cover- 
ing of  the  shell  in  which  the  nutmeg  is  contained. 

The  flavor  of  the  nutmeg  is  much  less  pungent  than 
that  of  the  clove,  and  therefore  is  less  stimulating  and 
injurious. 

Ginger, 

Ginger  came  originally  from  Southern  Asia,  but  at 
an  early  period  was  transplanted  in  South  America  and 
the  West  Indies,  from  which  places  it  was  exported  to 
Europeas  early  as  1547.  (Edwards’  West  Indies,  vol. 
ii.)  It  comes  from  the  tuberous  joints  or  roots  of 
the  ginger  plant,  and  in  commerce  is  distinguished  as 


PEPPER.  — ALLSPICE. 


305 


black  and  white  ginger;  both  kinds,  however,  come 
from  the  same  plant,  the  difference  of  color  depending 
on  the  mode  of  preparation. 

Pepper. 

There  are  said  to  be  at  least  sixty  varieties  of  pep- 
per, some  of  which  are  found  in  every  part  of  the 
world.  The  black  pepper  .of  commerce,  which  is  the 
most  extensively  used,  is  found  native  on  the  mountains 
on  the  coast  of  Malabar,  and  is  cultivated  to  a great 
extent  in  Sumatra  and  Java,  and  forms  the  principal 
article  of  export  in  these  places.  It  grows  on  a creep- 
ing or  climbing  plant,  and  resembles,  when  the  leaves 
are  off,  very  closely  the  grape  vine. 

Pimento,  or  Allspice. 

This  spice  is  the  unripe  fruit  of  a large  and  beauti- 
ful tree.  The  berries  are  gathered  just  after  the  flower 
has  fallen  off,  as  they  lose  their  fragrance  and  become 
valueless  if  suffered  to  ripen.  The  crop,  in  a favorable 
season,  is  sometimes  enormous,  a single  tree  yielding 
one  hundred  weight  of  dried  fruit  after  losing  one  third 
in  curing.  The  allspice  has  a flavor  which  seems  to 
combine  the  properties  of  many  other  spices,  and  that 
fact  is  the  origin  of  its  proper  name. 

Capsicum 

Is  a native  of  India,  but  has  been  acclimated  in  this 
country  and  England,  of  which  there  are  three  kinds, 
20 


306 


VANILLA. 


the  cherry  pepper,  the  guinea  pepper,  and  the  bell 
pepper.  The  green  pods  of  all  these  varieties  are  used 
for  pickles,  and  the  ripe  ones  for  seasoning  pickles,  &c. 

Vanilla, 

Vanilla  is  a native  of  Mexico  and  some  parts  of 
India.  It  is  a parasitical  plant,  with  lanceolate  leaves, 
eighteen  inches  long  and  three  inches  wide,  and  bears 
slender  pods,  containing,  besides  numerous  seeds,  a 
substance  which  is  black,  oily,  and  balsamic  when 
recently  gathered,  and  its  odor,  when  strongly  inhaled, 
produces  a kind  of  temporary  intoxication.  These 
pods  are  gathered  and  dried,  and  constitute  the  vanilla 
which  is  used  for  making  chocolate,  and  for  flavoring 
ice-creams,  cakes,  blanc-mange,  &c. 

These  foreign  spices,  together  with  many  seasoning 
herbs,  which  grow  spontaneously  or  are  acclimated  in 
this  country,  such  as  parsley,  fennel,  purslain,  horse- 
radish, mint,  spearmint,  thyme,  sage,  marjoram,  &c., 
are  used  for  seasoning  meats,  cakes,  soups,  broths, 
&c.  They  owe  their  fragrant  and  spicy  qualities  to 
volatile  or  essential  oil,  each  having  its  own,  which 
may,  by  distillation,  be  collected,  and,  being  dissolved 
in  alcohol,  are  called  essences.  In  that  form  they 
are  generally  kept  and  used  instead  of  the  crude  spices 
and  herbs  from  which  they  were  taken. 


GOUT. 


307 


GOUT:  ITS  CAUSE  AND  CURE. 

In  the  chapters  on  general  inflammations  and  neural- 
gia, we  have  seen  that  the  predisposing  cause  of  inflam- 
mations and  pains  is  carbonaceous  food,  heating,  as  it 
does,  the  blood,  the  internal  organs,  and  the  nerves,  as 
the  fire  of  a steamboat  heats  the  combustible  materials 
around  the  boiler,  and  renders  them  more  susceptible 
to  ignition.  This  illustration  is  particularly  applicable 
to  the  gout,  which  is  eminently  painful  and  inflamma- 
tory ; and  it  is  corroborated  by  the  fact  that  subjects  for 
the  gout  are  generally  fat,  and  live  high^  which,  ac- 
cording to  the  English  and  American  acceptation  of 
that  term,  means  that  their  food  is  greatly  composed 
f)f  butter,  fat,  starch,  and  sugar,  which  are  only  the 
heat-producing  elements,  without  either  strength-giving 
principles  for  the  muscles,  or  food  for  the  brain  and 
nerves.  But  there  are  some  peculiarities  of  the  gout 
which  distinguish  it  from  all  other  inflammatory 
diseases. 

One  exciting  cause  of  gout  is  violent,  exciting,  or 
long-continue4  mental  action  — an  exciting  cause  of 
no  other  inflammatory  disease ; at  least  the  effects  are 
peculiar  to  gout,  and  the  disease  is  accompanied  with 
peculiar  irritability  of  mind,  irascibility  of  temper,  and 


308 


GOUT. 


frequently  with  deposits  of  certain  effete  matter  as  it 
passes  from  the  system.  Let  us  see  if  these  peculiari- 
ties are  not  susceptible  of  explanation. 

What  physical  effect  on  the  system  is  produced  bj 
violent,  exciting,  or  long-continued  mental  action,  such 
as  induces  gout? 

It  has  been  already  shown  that  one  twelfth  of  the 
solid  matter  of  the  brain  is  phosphorus,  which  is  com- 
bined with  other  mineral  principles,  the  most  important 
of  which  is  soda;  and  that  the  amount  of  phosphorus 
7aries  in  different  brains  according  to  mental  capacity, 
diildren  and  idiots  having  less  than  half  as  much  as  men 
)f  common  intellects. 

It  is  also  shown  that  this  phosphorus  is  used  up  in 
thinking,  and  in  any  mental  exercise,  and  thrown  from 
the  system  as  effete  matter,  just  as  nitrogen  is  used  up 
and  thrown  off  in  working  the  muscles  — clergymen 
excreting  more  phosphorus  on  Monday  than  any  other 
day  of  the  week,  and  lawyers  excreting  more  after 
court  days  than  at  any  other  time. 

The  Want  of  Phosphorus  the  Cause  of  Gout 

Assuming,  then,  that  the  want  of  phosphorus  in  the 
system  is  the  cause  of  the  characteristic  symptoms  which 
distinguish  gout  from  other  inflammatory  diseases,  we 
have  a rational  explanation  of  all  their  phenomena,  and 
a theory  of  prevention  and  cure,  corroborated  by  the 
experience  and  observation  of  those  who  are  best  ac* 
quainted  with  the  disease. 


GOUT. 


809 


Phosphorus  not  only  promotes  the  action  of  the  brain, 
and  produces  mental  activity  and  power,  but  it  pro- 
motes the  action  of  the  muscles,  and  is  the  source  of 
all  nervous  or  vital  power  and  physical  health  and 
activity.  .This  is  proved  by  analyses,  which  show  tliat 
the  most  active  animals,  birds,  or  fishes  have  most  phos- 
phorus in  the  composition  of  their  fiesh,  and  require 
most  phosphatic  food  to  sustain  their  activity.  This 
principle  is  also  fully  explained  in  the  first  chapter  of 
this  book,  on  Food  for  Thinking  Men. 

I have  also  explained,  in  another  chapter,  the  well- 
known  fact  that  nursing  and  expectant  mothers  who 
live  on  carbonaceous  food  suffer  from  excruciating  neu- 
ralgia, toothache,  &c.,  because,  not  taking  phosphorus 
enough  in  food  to  keep  the  nerves  of  the  mother  and 
child  both  in  a healthy  condition.  Nature  favors  the 
child  at  the  expense  of  the  mother. 

And  here  we  have  a hint  of  the  cause  of  the  excru- 
ciating pain  accompanying  gout,  and  the  reason  why 
not  only  gouty  people,  but  all  other  fat  people  who  eat 
too  much  carbonaceous  food,  suffer  toothache  and  all 
other  painful  diseases  more  severely  than  those  who 
live  on  natural  food. 


310 


GOUT. 


The  Rationale  of  the  Gont,  and  its  Treatment 

Gouty  people  are  always  such  as  eat  too  large  a 
proportion  of  carbonaceous  food,  either  butter,  or  the 
fat  of  meats,  or  fine  fiour,  which  is  mostly  starch,  or 
sugar,  or  all  combined  — and  sometimes  all  at  a single 
meal.  Of  course  they  get  too  little  phosphorus,  not  a 
particle  of  that  element  being  found  in  fat,  starch,  or 
sugar,  and  are  strongly  predisposed  to  inflammations 
— always  keeping  the  timber  hot,  especially  if  to  these 
carbonaceous  and  heating  articles  of  food  are  added  the 
unnatural  stimulus  of  alcoholic  drinks. 

Still,  having  wonderful  powers  of  conforming  to  cir- 
cumstances, Nature  keeps  the  machine  running  com- 
paratively well,  till  some  excitement  of  mind  or  muscle 
exhausts  the  phosphorus  below  the  point  of  endurance, 
and  Nature  cries  out  in  agony  for  more  vitality  and  less 
heat.  The  fuel  being  stopped  the  heat  subsides,  and 
after  a few  days,  by  heating  up  gradually,  the  machine 
will  work  again,  till  it  is  again  overheated,  and  the 
exciting  cause  again  renewed,  to  go  through  the  same 
agony  and  the  same  process  of  temporary  cure. 

If  the  excitement  which  exhausts  the  phosphorus,  and 
causes  the  fit  of  gout,  be  mental,  the  soda  which  is 
combined  with  phosphorus  in  the  brain  is  set  free,  and, 
uniting' with  uric  acid,  forms  the  urate  of  soda,  which 
constitutes  the  urinary  calculi  and  the  chalky  deposits 
peculiar  to  gout.  And  it  will  probably  be  found  that 
these  deposits  occur  in  gouty  men  of  mental  activity, 


GOUT. 


311 


and  in  fits  of  gout  produced  by  mental  excitement  or 
mental  exhaustion. 

Again : gouty  people  are  always  sedentary  in  their 
habits ; and  here  we  get  also  a corroboration  of  the 
theory  that  want  of  phosphorus  is  the  cause  of  gout. 
By  reference  to  the  tables  of  analyses,  pages  120-123, 
it  will  be  seen  that  the  phosphates  and  nitrates  are  al- 
ways united,  these  articles  containing  the  most  muscle- 
making food,  which  contain  the  most  phosphorus ; and 
it  will  be  seen  also  that  those  who  exercise  the  muscles 
most  require  most  nitrogenous  food.  Active  men, 
therefore,  require  and  will  have  more  nitrogenous  food 
than  sedentary  men,  and  with  it  get,  of  course,  more 
phosphorus.  And  this  explains  the  fact  that  laboring 
men  never  have  the  gout. 

The  only  other  peculiarity  of  gout  usually  mentioned 

is,  that  gentlemen,  and  not  ladies,  are  most  subject  to 

it.  But  this,  I think,  is  equally  true  of  all  inflamma- 
tory diseases,  which  are  induced,  not  only  by  carbona- 
ceous food,  but  by  alcoholic  drinks.  And  the  explana- 
tion is  this  : gentlemen  ” tarry  long  at  the  wine  after 
the  cloth  is  removed  and  the  ladies  are  dismissed. 

Dyspepsia,  derangements  of  the  stomach,  bowels, 
&c.,  are  all  accounted  for  on  the  same  principles,  as 
is  explained  in  the  chapter  on  Dyspepsia,  &c.  My 
belief,  therefore,  is,  that  living  according  to  the  laws 
of  life,  as  explained  in  Philosophy  of  Eating,  no  one, 
however  predisposed  to  it,  will  ever  have  the  gout. 
And  if  living  otherwise  he  gets  into  its  screws,  the 


312 


GOUT. 


quickest  way  to  get  out  of  them  is  first  to  let  oflp  the 
steam,  not  by  exhausting  medicine,  but  by  stopping 
the  supply  of  fuel,  and  then  restoring  the  nervous  and 
vital  equilibrium,  by  taking,  in  a form  to  be  relished, 
food  prepared  from  active  fishes,  birds,  or  animals,  with 
bread  or  plain  puddings  from  wheat,  barley,  or  oatmeal, 
with  cheese,  as  it  can  be  well  digested,  and  enough  of 
butter,  or  other  agreeable  carbonates,  to  supply  any 
deficiency  of  fat  in  the  fish  or  lean  meat,  and  to  give 
relish  to  the  food,  and  enough  of  some  agreeable  fruits 
or  vegetables  to  furnish  the  necessary  acids  and  waste 
which  is  wanting  in  cheese. 


FOOD  FOE  THINKING  MEN. 


313 


FOOD  FOE  THINKING  MEN. 

That  one  set  of  principles  in  food  enables  us  to  use 
the  muscles,  that  another  set  enables  us  to  keep  up  the 
animal  heat,  and  another  promotes  the  action  of  the 
brain  and  nerves,  and  enables  us  to  think,  I have  en- 
deavored to  show. 

That  phosphorus  is  used  up  in  thinking,  as  nitrogen 
is  used  in  working  the  muscles,  and  carbon  in  furnish- 
ing animal  heat  and  fat,  I think  has  also  been  clearly 
demonstrated. 

This  idea,  though  not  new  to  physiologists,  has 
never  been  made  practical,  and,  indeed,  I have  seen 
no  attempt  to  develop  it  either  for  philosophical  or 
practical  purposes. 

Vauqualin  and  L’Harittee,  two  celebrated  French 
chemists,  laid  the  foundation  of  its  development  in  their 
analyses  of  the  human  brain,  proving,  as  they  did,  that 
the  brains  of  infants  and  idiots  contain  less  than  half 
the  phosphorus  that  is  found  in  the  brains  of  men  of 
common  intellect,  and  that  the  proportion  of  phospho- 
rus found  was  in  proportion  to  the  intellect ; but  for 
more  than  a quarter  of  a century  it  has  remained  with- 
out development  or  practical  application. 

Meantime  it  has  also  been  proved  by  analysis  of  the 
Becretions,  that  the  more  active  the  brain,  the  more 


314 


FOOD  FOR  THINKING  jMEN. 


phosphorus  is  used  up  and  thrown  off  by  the  system, 
clergymen  using  up  more  on  Sunday,  and  lawyers  on 
court  days,  than  at  other  times.  And  yet  our  profes- 
sional men  have  lived  as  other  men  live,  — eating  what 
has  come  before  them,  without  considering  whether  the 
elements  they  take  are  adapted  to  develop  stupidity  or 
mental  vigor;  eating,  perchance,  such  stupefying  arti- 
cles as  ham,  or  fat  pork,  and  white  bread  and  butter, 
while  making  or  preaching  a sermon,  and  such  phos- 
phatic  food  as  trouts  and  other  fish,  with  unbolted  bread, 
vegetables,  and  fruits,  when  idle  and  rusticating.  But 
a little  observation  would  show  a vast  difference  in  the 
quality  of  sermons  whether  made  and  preached  on  car- 
bonaceous or  phosphatic  diet ; and  the  estimate  of  the 
old  divine,  ''  of  the  number  of  tons  of  beans  and  pork 
preached  to  in  New  England  every  Sunday,  while  the 
owners  were  asleep,”  might  be  offset  by  an  estimate  of 
the  number  of  congregations,  not  only  in  New  England, 
but  in  Old  England,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  fat  and 
starch  eating  world,  who  are  put  asleep  by  sermons 
made  from  stupefying  principles  extracted  from  fat  pork, 
fat  beef,  and  superfine  flour. 

The  principle  that  mental  activity  depends  on  phos- 
phatic food,  I have  been  gratified  to  notice,  has  been 
recently  endorsed  by  Professor  Agassiz,  in  Es  address 
before  the  committee  of  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts 
on  the  propagation  and  preservation  of  fishes. 

He  said,  as  reported  in  the  Boston  Journal,  The  fish 
enters  largely  into  the  requisition  of  the  human  system. 
It  is  a kind  of  food  which  refreshes  the  system,  espe- 


FOOD  FOR  THINKING  MEN. 


315 


oially  after  intellectual  fatigue.  There  is  no  other 
article  of  food  that  supplies  the  waste  of  the  head  so 
thoroughly  as  fish  diet ; and  the  evidence  of  it  is  in  the 
fact  that  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  sea  shores,  the  world 
over,  are  the  brighter  population  of  the  country.  Fish 
contains  phosphorus  to  a large  extent,  — a chemical 
element  which  the  brain  requires  for  growth  and 
health.  He  would  not  say  that  an  exclusive  use  of 
fish  would  make  a blockhead  a wise  man ; but  that  the 
brain  should  not  be  wanting  in  one  of  its  essential 
elements.” 

But  man  cannot  live  on  fish  alone,  that  food  being 
generally  deficient  in  carbonaceous  elements  to  furnish 
animal  heat ; and  we  need  a variety  of  food,  one  article 
being  adapted  to  supply  the  deficiencies  of  others ; and 
everywhere  in  the  habitable  world  nature  has  fur- 
nished this  variety,  adapting  it  to  different  climates, 
tastes,  constitutions,  employments,  and  habits  of  life. 
For  every  animal  but  man  appropriate  food  is  placed, 
already  cooked  and  prepared  for  digestion,  within  the 
reach  of  every  species,  in  its  own  limited  sphere,  and 
its  instincts  direct  with  unerring  certainty  to  the  food 
best  adapted  to  its  development  and  health ; but  man, 
having  intellect,  is  expected  to  use  it  in  studying  the 
wants  of  the  system,  and  in  analyzing  food  to  ascer- 
Ksiin  its  adaptedness  to  supply  those  wants,  in  the  desti- 
tute condition  in  which  he  is  placed,  as  implied  in  the 
sentence,  " Cursed  is  the  ground  for  thy  sake  : in  sor- 
row shalt  thou  eat  of  it  all  the  days  of  thy  life ; thorns 
*^lso  and  thistles  shall  it  bring  forth  to  thee ; and  thou 


316 


FOOD  FOR  THINKING  MEN. 


shalt  eat  the  hei-b  of  the  field.  In  the  sweat  of  thy  face 
shalt  thou  eat  bread  till  thou  return  unto  the  ground.” 

Differ  as  we  may  in  regard  to  the  meaning  of  this 
passage,  we  find  man  in  a condition  in  regard  to  food 
very  diflferent  from  that  of  other  animals.  Instead  of 
having  everything  ready  at  his  hand,  he  must  cultivate 
the  herbs,  and  the  grasses,  and  tuberous  roots,  the 
grains,  and  vegetables,  and  fruits,  and  every  luxury 
must  be  obtained  by  dint  of  his  wits  and  his  industry. 
All  he  finds  growing  spontaneously  are  a few  berries 
and  small  imperfect  fruits,  and  perhaps  the  juices  of 
some  plants  and  vegetables ; everything  else  must 
be  cooked  and  prepared  to  be  capable  of  digestion 
and  of  furnishing  nourishment,  — all  our  delicious 
apples,  and  peaches,  and  grapes,  and  other  fruit,  are 
brought  to  the  perfection  in  which  we  now  find  them 
by  cultivation  from  these  berries  and  small  imper- 
fect natural  fruits.  And  all  our  grains  and  succulent 
plants  and  vegetables,  which  are  our  main  dependence 
for  food,  are  cultivated  from  the  seeds  of  grasses,  and 
from  plants  so  unlike  these  excellent  articles,  that  the 
origin  of  many  of  them,  though  doubtless  still  growing 
wild,  is  not  recognized.  For  interesting  examples  of 
this  change,  wrought  in  many  common  articles  of  food, 
see  pages  287-289. 

To  assist  in  selecting  articles  of  food  with  suitable 
proportions  of  elements  for  muscles  and  brains,  under 
different  conditions  and  occupations  in  life,  you  will  find 
analyses  of  about  fifty  articles,  embracing  most  if  not 


FOOD  FOR  THINKING  MEN. 


317 


all  articles  of  food  in  common  use  in  the  civilized  world, 
see  pages  120-123. 

They  are  selected  with  great  care,  from  English, 
French,  German,  and  American  analyses,  but  cannot 
in  the  nature  of  the  case  be  positively,  but  only  proxi- 
mately  correct ; for  no  two  specimens  of  any  article, 
growing  on  different  soils  and  in  different  climates,  are 
found  to  contain  precisely  the  same  elements  in  the  same 
proportions.  For  example  : Of  the  four  hundred  dif- 

ferent varieties  of  wheat,  described  and  analyzed  by  the 
French  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  no  two  are  found 
to  contain  the  same  elements  in  precisely  the  same  pro- 
portions. Still,  as  a means  of  comparing  one  kind  of 
grain  and  food  with  others,  and  of  adapting  them  to 
our  particular  conditions  and  circumstances  in  life, 
these  tables  cannot  fail  to  be  practically  valuable  to  any 
one  who  shall  give  attention  to  them. 

It  will  be  seen  that  in  ordinary  circumstances  of  tem- 
perature, muscular  and  mental  exercise,  &c.,  the  propor- 
tions required  are  about  fifteen  per  cent,  of  the  nitrates, 
or  muscle-making  elements,  to  sixty-five  to  seventy  of 
carbonates,  or  heat-producing  elements,  and  two  or  three 
per  cent,  of  phosphates,  or  food  for  brains  and  nerves, 
or  a little  more  than  four  times  as  much  carbonaceous 
food  as  nitrogenous,  while  the  proportion  of  phosphates 
vary  much,  and  are  to  be  used  more  or  less  according 
to  mental  and  physical  activity,  and  that  the  proportions 
of  th^se  different  elements  are  various  in  different  arti- 
cles, giving  a wide  field  for  selection  and  adaptation. 


318 


FOOD  FOR  THINKING  MEN. 


And  in  the  selection  of  animal  food,  it  is  of  great 
practical  use  also  to  recur  to  the  principles  explained. 
See  pages  82-90. 

The  amount  of  phosphatic  food  contained  in  the  flesh 
of  any  animal,  and  the  physical  and  mental  activity  im- 
parted by  it,  is  in  exact  proportion  to  the  activity  of 
that  animal,  the  flesh  of  the  trout,  pickerel,  or  salmon 
imparting  much  more  mental  and  physical  vigor  than 
that  of  the  dormant  pout,  eel,  or  flounder,  and  the  flesh 
of  the  wild  bison  or  hog  more  than  that  of  the  domes- 
tic ox  or  hog  of  the  same  species,  and  of  the  active 
working  ox  more  than  that  of  the  dormant  hog  or  calf, 
which  are  fed  and  fattened  in  a pen,  without  exercise. 
And  the  same  remark  holds  true  in  relation  to  the  flesh 
of  wild  and  domestic  fowls. 

Without  going  to  tables  of  analysis,  therefore,  much 
assistance  can  be  had  in  selecting  food  for  the  brain  by 
reference  to  this  principle. 

In  comparing  these  various  articles  of  food,  with  a 
view  to  determine  their  adaptation  to  our  particular  cir- 
cumstances, the  considerations  mentioned  heretofore  in 
table  on  page  120,  and  elsewhere  must  be  noticed. 

On  page  16,  it  is  intimated  that  the  phosphates  should 
be  subdivided  into  soluble  and  insoluble,  and  this  for 
thinking  men  is  an  important  distinction,  both  as  it  relates 
to  the  selection  of  food,  and  its  preservation  and  prepara- 
tion. Take,  for  example,  beef  or  fish,  which  contain  both 
soluble  phosphates  for  the  brain  and  insoluble  phosphates 
for  the  bones.  In  pickling  in  brine,  or  in  boiling,  the  sol- 


FOOD  FOR  THINKING  MEN. 


819 


uhle  pliosphates  and  much  of  tho  albumen  are  lost  in 
the  water,  and  of  course  boiled  or  salted  beef  or  fish 
is  not  suitable  food  for  the  thinking  man,  although, 
retaining  as  it  does  the  insoluble  phosphates  and  fibrin, 
it  may  be  good  food  for  the  laboring  man.  And  the 
same  considerations  enter  into  the  question  of  cooking 
or  preparing  all  meats  and  vegetables. 

The  nitrates  and  phosphates  of  all  meats  and  vegeta 
bles  are  partly  soluble  and  partly  insoluble,  and  there- 
fore in  soaking  in  cold  water,  all  lose  much  that  is 
important,  especially  to  the  thinking  man.  In  cold 
water,  albumen  is  dissolved  or  lost,  but  in  hot  water 
the  albumen  is  coagulated,  and  mostly  retained ; but  in 
hot  water  as  well  as  cold  the  soluble  phosphates  are 
lost.  Neither  fish,  nor  meats,  nor  vegetables  should 
therefore  ever  be  pickled  in  brine,  nor  should  they  be 
boiled,  unless  in  a little  water,  as  in  the  admirable  ar- 
rangement of  Zimmermann  or  Duncklee,  where  all  the 
soluble  materials,  as  well  as  all  the  flavor,  are  retained 
in  the  water  that  is  necessary  to  keep  up  the  steam,  and 
being  used  as  gravy  or  soup,  all  the  elements  are  saved, 
as  nature  intended. 

In  roasting  also,  or  broiling,  or  indeed  in  any  man- 
ner of  cooking,  care  must  be  taken  not  to  burn  up  or 
otherwise  destroy  or  lose  any  of  the  juices  of  either 
vegetable  or  animal  food ; especially  is  this  important 
for  thinking  men  and  for  those  whose  digestion  is  feeble, 
the  power  of  the  stomaeh  as  well  as  the  power  of  the 
brain  being  dependent  on  soluble  phosphorus.  And 
especially  is  the  power  of  the  stomach  dependent  on 


320 


FOOD  FOR  THINKING  MEN. 


the  flavor  of  food,  as  elsewhere  shown.  Let  any  one 
try  the  experiment  of  cooking  meats,  fish,  potatoes, 
carrots,  turnips,  or  any  other  food,  animal  or  vegetable, 
in  a steamer  in  which  the  flavor  and  all  the  steam  are 
distilled  back  and  saved,  and  compare  the  taste  of  them 
with  that  of  the  same  food  cooked  so  that  all  these  ele- 
ments are  lost,  and  he  will  be  astonished  at  the  differ- 
ence in  flavor,  digestibility,  and  mental  and  physical 
energy  imparted  by  it. 

Other  articles  of  food  may  be  wholesome  to  the 
laboring  man,  that  are  not  wholesome  to  the  thinking 
man.  Cheese,  for  example,  is  very  strengthening  to 
bones  and  muscles,  containing  not  only  the  concentrated 
nitrates  of  the  milk,  but  also  a large  share  of  its  phos- 
phates ; but  the  phosphates  are  mostly  insoluble,  the  sol- 
uble phosphates  having  gone  off  in  the  whey.  Cheese, 
therefore,  while  it  may  be  excellent  food  for  the  laboring 
man,  and  for  children  whose  bones  are  feeble,  is  too 
indigestible,  and  contains  too  little  food  for  the  brain, 
to  be  very  valuable  to  the  sedentary  thinking  man, 
especially  as  it  tends  to  constipation,  containing  as  it 
does  almost  no  waste  material.  But  with  this  excep- 
tion, all  articles  of  common  food,  cooked  so  as  to  retain 
their  natural  elements,  are  useful  to  thinking  men  in 
proportion  to  the  phosphates  indicated  by  analyses,  con- 
taining, as  they  all  do  in  their  natural  condition,  soluble 
as  well  as  insoluble  phosphorus. 

Of  the  amount  of  soluble  phosphorus  in  animal  food, 
we  can  judge,  as  I have  before  mentioned,  without  an 
analysis,  by  the  degree  of  activity  of  the  animal,  as 


FOOD  FOR  THINKING  MEN. 


321 


only  soluble  phosphorus  gives  either  activity  of  brain  or 
muscle ; but  of  the  soluble  phosphorus  in  vegetable  food 
we  have  to  judge  by  a different  estimate.  The  phos- 
phates of  succulent  vegetables  and  fruits,  when  nourish- 
ment is  mostly  in  their  juices,  are  of  course  mostly 
soluble,  and  as  their  solid  material  is  mostly  woody 
fibre,  and  indigestible,  they  also  furnish  waste,  which  is 
very  important  to  sedentary  men,  inclined  as  they  are 
to  constipation.  They  also  contain  the  acids  which  are 
needed  every  day,  especially  in  sedentary  men,  the 
action  of  whose  liver  is  sluggish,  to  eliminate  effete 
matters,  which,  if  retained  in  the  system,  produce 
inaction  of  the  brain,  and  indeed  of  the  whole  system, 
causing  jaundice,  sleepiness,  scurvy,  and  troublesome 
diseases  of  the  skin.  Acid  fruits  and  succulent  vegeta- 
bles are  needed  therefore  every  day  of  the  year,  especially 
in  summer,  and  in  winter  by  those  who  live  in  warm 
rooms,  without  much  exercise ; and  the  amount  of  re- 
freshing nourishment  in  them  is  much  o;reater  than 
would  at  first  appear  as  the  result  of  analysis.  As  thej^ 
contain  from  seventy-five  to  ninety-seven  per  cent,  of 
water,  and  only  from  three  to  tvrenty-five  per  cent,  of 
solid  matter,  the  per  cent,  of  nitrogenous  and  phosphatic 
nourishment  is  greater  than  in  more  solid  food  in  pro- 
portion to  the  amount  of  water. 

For  example : In  wheat  there  is  eighty-six  per  cent, 
of  solid  matter,  of  which  fifteen  per  cent,  is  nitrogenous 
and  about  two  per  cent,  is  phosphatic.  In  apples  there 
vs  but  sixteen  per  cent,  of  solid  matter,  of  which  five  per 
cent,  is  nitrogenous  and  one  per  cent,  is  phosphatic,  so 
21 


322 


•FOOD  FOR  THINKING  MEN. 


that  in  apples  there  is  nearly  twice  the  food  for  muscles  ; 
and,  considering  that  in  wheat  the  phosphates  are  partly 
insoluble,  there  is  more  than  four  times  the  food  for  the 
l)rain  in  apples  than  in  wheat.  And  this  estimate  is  not 
unfair,  because  there  is  as  much  water  used  in  the  diges- 
tion of  wheat  as  in  that  of  apples,  all  that  is  needed  in 
the  wheat  being  demanded  and  taken  as  drink.  In 
other  fruits  and  vegetables  the  proportionate  amount 
of  nitrates  and  phosphates  is  still  greater,  and  it  can 
readily  be  understood  why,  in  warm  weather,  when  car- 
bonaceous food  is  not  much  needed,  fruits  and  vegeta- 
bles are  so  plentifully  provided,  and  why  they  furnish 
Buch  healthful  action  of  the  system  and  such  vigor  of 
mind. 


FOOD  FOK  LABOKLNG  MEN. 


323 


FOOD  FOR  LABORING  MEN. 

That  muscular  power  and  activity  is  greater  under 
the  use  of  some  kinds  of  food  than  others  has  been 
known  and  recorded  for  more  than  two  thousand  years. 
Before  the  Christian  era  the  gladiators  were  so  con- 
stantly trained  on  barley  bread  that  they  were  called 
hordearii^  hordeum  being  the  Greek  name  for  barley. 
And  if  we  look  at  the  analysis  of  barley  (refer  to  table 
on  page  121},  we  shall  see  that  it  contains  more  nitrog- 
enous, as  well  as  more  phosphatic  elements,  than  wheat, 
or  any  other  grain  adapted  to  bread-making.  Prize-fight- 
ers and  professional  pedestrians  prepare  themselves  and 
sustain  their  extraordinary  powers  of  action  and  endur- 
ance on  the  muscles  of  the  ox  or  sheep  and  on  unbolted 
bread.  Horses,  als6,  are  trained  for  the  race  on  food 
containing  a large  proportion  of  nitrogenous  and  phos- 
phatic elements,  as  oats,  barley,  the  bran  of  wheat,  or 
Southern  corn  — never  on  Northern  corn  or  fine  wheat 
flour,  which  tend  to  fatness,  but  not  to  strength  and 
activity.  Indeed,  the  experience  of  practical  men  the 
world  over  corroborates  the  important  truths  developed 
by  analyses  of  difierent  articles  of  food,  and  the  scien- 
tific inferences  deduced  from  them  ; and  the  tables,  pages 
120-123,  are  therefore  confidently  referred  to,  for  the 


324 


FOOD  FOR  LABORING  MEN. 


purpose  of  assisting  laboring  men  to  determine  what  kind 
of  food  will  give  most  muscular  strength,  and  what,  in 
the  common  way  of  living,  is  lost. 

It  will  be  seen  that  most  of  the  kinds  of  natural 
food,  as  the  meats  of  our  domestic  animals,  fat  and 
lean  together,  with  unbolted  wheat,  potatoes,  vegeta- 
bles, milk,  corn,  rye,  barley,  &c.,  contain  a due  pro- 
portion of  food  for  the  muscles,  nerves,  and  for  animal 
heat,  without  the  addition  of  such  heating  materials  as 
fine  flour,  bread,  butter,  fat  pork,  or  lard.  And  as 
neither  of  these  last-named  articles  contain  any,  or  but 
little  of  any,  strength  or -life-giving  elements,  it  fol- 
lows, that,  used  with  the  food  containing  the  natural 
mixture  and  proportions  of  all  the  elements  required, 
these  heating  elements,  not  being  wanted,  are  either 
thrown  off  and  wasted,  or,  by  increasing  the  amount 
of  heat  and  by  embarrassing  the  system,  tend  to  pro- 
duce inflammations  and  disease.  But  it  will  also  be 
seen  that  other  valuable  articles,  as  beans  and  peas, 
and  many  fruits  and  vegetables,  not  containing  enough 
of  these  carbonaceous  materials,  do  require  with  them, 
or  at  the  same  meal,  some  butter,  or  other  fat,  or 
starch,  or  sugar,  to  give  them  the  requisite  heating 
power,  especially  in  cold  weather.  A little  attention 
to  these  tables,  and  the  principles  upon  which  they 
are  made,  would  be  of  great  service,  not  only  for  the 
preservation  of  health  and  strength,  but  for  economy. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  kinds  of  food  most  wasted, 
because  eaten  when  not  wanted  by  the  system,  are  the 
most  expensive.  The  article  most  used  when  not 


FOOD  FOR  LABORING  MEN. 


82o 


wanted,  in  Boston,  is  superfine  flour,  out  of  which 
has  been  bolted  a large  portion  of  its  nitrates  and 
phosphates.  This  being  used  with  butter  and  sugar, 
furnishes  very  little  but  heating  materials.  The  next 
article  on  which  most  money  is  expended  and  wasted, 
because  most  used  with  other  articles  containing  enough 
of  carbonaceous  elements,  is  butter,  which  contains  not 
a particle  of  strength  or  life-giving  material,  and  there- 
fore is  never  useful,  except  with  food  deficient  in  carbon. 

And  another  article  most  extensively  used,  and, 
for  the  same  reason,  wasted,  is  sugar,  which,  though 
useful  with  too  acid  fruits,  and  as  a part  of  a meal  in 
which  is  too  large  a proportion  of  nitrogenous  food, 
is  worse  than  useless  in  confectionery,  cakes,  &c., 
especially  if  eaten  between  meals,  and  when  food  is 
not  wanted,  as  it  not  only  adds  to  the  superfluous  heat, 
but  causes  fermentation  in  the  stomach  and  bowels, 
and  causes,  or  tends  to  cause,  flatulence,  colic,  dys- 
pepsia, and  the  thousand  and  one  troubles  of  the 
digestive  organs,  which  we  are  apt  to  impute  to  green 
vegetables  and  fruit,  when  the  fact  is,  these  extra  car- 
bonaceous substances,  in  their  passage  out  of  the  sys- 
tem, embarrass  the  digestion  of  natural  food,  and  cause 
it  to  give  us  these  troubles ; and  this  is  proved  by  the 
fact  that  those  who  avoid  these  expensive  and  useless 
articles  may  eat  as  much  as  they  choose  of  green 
vegetables  and  fruits,  and  it  gives  them  no  flatulence, 
and  produces  no  irritation. 

Our  puritanic  forefathers,  who  lived  on  beans,  peas, 


326 


FOOD  FOR  LABORING  MEN. 


unbolted  grains,  and  the  meats,  vegetables,  and  fruits 
as  they  came  from  their  fields  and  gardens,  cooked  in 
the  simple  manner  best  calculated  to  develop  their 
natural  flavor  and  prepare  them  for  digestion,  were 
not  troubled  with  flatulence,  colic,  indigestion,  &c. 
And  our  foremothers  were  not  the  pale-faced,  flabby- 
muscled,  toothless,  chlorotic,  consumptive,  and  senti- 
mental race,  as  are  their  degenerate  daughters  of 
the  present  generation.  Having  plenty  of  nitrogen 
for  the  muscles,  lime  and  silex  for  the  teeth,  iron  for 
the  blood,  and  all  strength-giving  articles  of  food  for 
the  lungs  and  digestive  organs,  and  phosphorus  for 
the  brain,  in  natural  food  as  God  had  furnished 
it,  and  their  systems  not  being  heated  up  and  em- 
barrassed by  the  extra  carbonaceous  food  furnished 
in  superfine  flour,  butter,  and  sugar,  on  which  our 
daughters  try,  but  fail,  to  live,  they  had  all  the  ele- 
ments necessary  to  promote  the  vigorous  health  of 
every  organ  and  faculty,  and  none  of  the  extra  carbon 
which  heats  up  the  system,  embarrasses  the  digestive 
organs,  and  renders  us  more  liable  to  disease  and  less 
able  to  resist  it. 

Even  our  farmers,  and  their  wives  and  daughters, 
have  become  terribly  degenerated.  Instead  of  the 
robust  and  healthy  men,  and  the  full-chested,  healthy, 
rosy-cheeked,  beautiful  women,  of  former  generations, 
we  see  a people  almost  as  feeble  and  sickly  as  city 
people.  And  the  reason  is  apparent.  The  outer  crust 
of  the  wheat,  and  the  buttermilk,  which  contain  the 
nitrogen,  phosphorus,  and  iron  on  which  strength  and 


FOOD  FOK  LABOEING  MEN. 


327 


energy,  mental  and  physical,  and  beauty  of  complexion, 
depend,  is  given  to  the  cattle  and  pigs,  while  they  take 
themselves,  instead,  the  butter,  fine  flour  and  sugar, 
which  contain  only  the  heating  and  disease-producing 
carbonates. 

The  robust  Irishmen  and  Scotchmen,  also,  who  come 
here  with  strong,  energetic  muscles,  and  sound  teeth, 
from  their  oatmeal,  wheat,  and  barley  cakes,  with  their 
potatoes,  buttermilk,  and  cheese,  soon  fall  into  our 
starch  and  grease  eating  habits,  and  become,  or  at 
least  their  children  become,  as  pale,  puny,  and  tooth- 
less as  pure-blooded  Yankees.  Indeed,  bringing  with 
them,  as  they  do,  especially  the  laboring  Irish,  their 
clannish  and  unclean  habits,  and  therefore  breathing 
air  impregnated  with  impurities,  they  suffer  much 
more  and  die  much  faster  than  Yankees,  whose  hab- 
its of  life,  in  this  respect,  are  better.  (See  state- 
ments and  statistics,  in  another  chapter,  relating  to 
length  of  life,  &c.) 

Articles  of  Food  best  adapted  to  impart  Muscular 
Power, 

Cheese. 

By  the  tables  of  analysis,  so  often  referred  to,  it 
will  be  seen  that  cheese  contains  more  elements  of 
strength  to  the  muscles  and  bones  than  any  other 
article  in  common  use  in  this  country  or  in  England. 
It  contains  from  sixty  to  seventy  per  cent,  of  nitroge- 
nous matter,  and  seven  per  cent,  of  phosphatic,  to 


S28 


FOOD  FOK  LABORING  MEN. 


only  nineteen  of  carbonaceous ; and  the  phosphates 
being  of  the  insoluble  or  bone-making  class,  it  imparts 
strength  to  the  bones  and  working  power,  in  a more 
concentrated  form  than  any  other  known  article  of 
food ; and,  being  hard  of  digestion,  it  has  also  the 
good  quality  of  staying  by,  or  holding  on,  or,  as  the 
farmers  say  of  salt  beef  and  beans,  "it  is  a good  prop 
to  lean  over  when  at  work.”  But  it  is  not  natural 
food,  being  only  a part  of  the  natural  food,  milk.  It 
therefore  needs  additional  elements  to  make  it  whole- 
some for  a single  meal.  By  a calculation  made  else- 
where, it  will  be  seen  that  to  eat  three  times  a day  we 
should  require,  at  one  meal,  less  than  two  ounces  of  food 
for  the  muscles.  And  we  find  that  two  ounces  would 
be  contained  in  three  ounces  of  cheese,  whereas,  to 
produce  the  natural  distention,  nearly  eight  times  as 
much  bulk  of  food  is  required ; and,  therefore,  on  a 
meal  of  cheese  sufficient  to  supply  muscular  power,  the 
stomach  would  collapse  into  a condition  in  which  the 
gastric  juice  could  not  be  properly  produced,  and  the 
digestive  process  could  not  go  on.  Then,  again,  in 
three  ounces  of  cheese  only  one  ounce  of  carbonaceous 
food  would  be  produced,  whereas  there  should  be  at 
least  twelve  ounces,  to  give  its  natural  proportions. 
Then,  again,  in  cheese  there  is  almost  no  waste,  and 
therefore  cheese  alone  would  produce  fatal  constipation 
in  a very  short  time.  Cheese,  therefore,  to  be  whole- 
some, must  be  eaten  in  small  quantities,  and,  to  get 
appropriate  carbonaceous  food,  must  be  eaten  with 
bread ; and  for  this  purpose  white  bread  would  not 


FOOD  FOn  LABORING  MEN. 


329 


oe  objectionable,  if  it  contained  the  requisite  waste. 
If,  therefore,  we  ate  three  ounces  of  cheese  and  three 
fourths  of  a pound  of  wheat  bread,  we  should  get 
nearly  half  ^the  nitrates  and  carbonates  needed  for 
twenty-four  hours,  and  in  about  the  right  proportions. 
But  still  we  should  get  no  waste,  and  only  a part  of  the 
phosphatic  elements  needed ; but  with  the  addition  of 
apples,  or  other  fruits,  or  coarse  bread,  to  supply  the 
deficient  elements,  cheese  would  be  excellent  and  cheap 
food  for  the  laboring  man. 

Southern  Corn. 

Next  to  cheese,  the  long,  tooth-shaped  Southern  corn, 
such  as  is  delineated  in  figure  3,  page  25,  contains  most 
nitrogen  and  phosphorus,  compared  with  its  carbon ; and 
its  phosphates  being  partly  soluble,  and  its  nitrogen  in 
the  form  of  albumen  and  gluten  instead  of  casein,  it  is 
more  easily  digested,  and  it  imparts  more  vigor  and  ac- 
tivity than  cheese,  and  is  therefore  better  adapted  to 
work  requiring  rapidity  of  motion,  but  less  continuous 
action  than  that  to  which  cheese  is  adapted.  It  requires 
some  addition  of  carbon,  having  but  one  part  of  nitroge- 
nous to  three  of  carbonaceous  elements,  whereas  there 
is  need  of  one  to  four  in  warm  weather,  and  one  to  five 
in  cold.  It  is,  therefore,  appropriately  eaten  with  mo- 
lasses, or  meats,  fat  and  lean ; and  even  the  negro  diet 
of  “ hog  and  hominy  ” is  not  a bad  one,  especially  in 
cool  weather. 


830 


FOOD  FOR  LABORING  MEN. 


Beans  and  Peas. 

Next  come  beans  and  peas,  which,  being  very 
nearly  alike  in  their  proportions  of  necessary  elements, 
will  be  considered  together.  They  also  contain  too 
large  a proportion  of  muscle-making  principles,  having 
twenty-four  per  cent,  of  nitrates  to  seventy  of  carbo- 
nates, and  three  to  four  per  cent,  of  phosphates,  partly 
soluble  and  partly  insoluble,  so  that  if  we  retain  the 
liquor  in  which  they  are  cooked,  as  in  bean  porridge  or 
pea  soup,  they  are  good  articles  not  only  for  labor- 
ing men  but  for  thinking  men,  if  they  have  good  diges- 
tive powers.  These  also  require  additional  carbon,  and 
are  appropriately  eaten  with  butter,  or  fat  pork  and 
potatoes,  with  more  of  the  vegetable  carbonates  in  sum- 
mer and  of  the  animal  in  winter. 


Lean  Flesh  of  Meats. 

Lean  meats,  or  muscles  of  animals,  contain  about  the 
same  proportion  of  nitrates  and  phosphates  as  beans  and 
peas,  but  they  contain  no  carbonates  at  all,  or  at  least 
the  gelatine  in  them,  which  is  carbonaceous,  is  not  di- 
gestible, but  is  used  as  waste,  to  keep  the  bowels  in 
action,  gelatine  in  meats  answering  the  same  purpose 
as  woody  fibre  answers  in  vegetable  food.  It  is  gelatine 
which  gives  consistence  to  soups,  especially  those  made 
of  joints  of  meat,  and  many  people  are  deceived  by  the 
idea  that  the  more  gelatinous  the  more  nourishing  the 


FOOD  FOR  LABORING  MEN. 


331 


soup;  but  nourishment  comes  from  other  elements. 
Still,  to  old  people,  and  sedentary  people  who  are  in- 
clined to  costiveness,  they  are  wholesome  and  valuable, 
and  the  gelatine  performs  an  important  office  in  the  pro- 
motion of  health. 

The  lean  of  beef  contains  twenty-five  per  cent,  of 
food  for  muscles,  seventy-five  per  cent,  being  water 
and  waste.  It  is,  if  tender,  very  easily  digested  while 
fresh,  and  hard-working  men  prefer  that  which  has 
been  salted,  as  it  "stays  by”  better;  and  as  all  the 
insoluble  phosphates  and  all  the  fibrine  is  retained,  it  is 
good  food  for  them,  although  the  soluble  phosphates 
and  the  albumen  are  lost  in  the  brine.  Lean  meat  can 
never,  of  course,  be  eaten  alone,  not  having  in  it  the 
necessary  carbon  to  keep  up  steam  to  run  the  machine, 
but  requires  either  fat  or  starch  to  supply  the  lungs 
with  fuel,  more  or  less  according  to  temperature,  &c., 
fat  being  best  adapted  to  supply  its  carbonates  in  win- 
ter and  starch  in  summer ; and  if  fruits  are  eaten  with 
meat,  sugar  also  may  be  eaten  without  injury.  Sugar 
seems  to  accord  with  vegetable  diet  rather  than  ani- 
mal. There  seems,  how^ever,  to  be  required,  to  keep 
the  system  in  good  order,  some  variety,  containing 
some  fat,  some  starch,  and  some  sugar ; but  it  is 
always  better  to  get  these  principles  combined  with 
food  in  Nature’s  own  way,  rather  than  in  the  concen- 
trated form  in  which  we  find  them  in  lard,  butter,  fine 
(lour,  and  sugar ; and  the  more  nearly  we  conform  to 
Nature’s  arrangements  in  this  respect,  as  in  all  others, 
the  better  every  way. 


532 


FOOD  FOR  LABORING  MEN. 


Fish. 

The  only  other  article  of  food  in  common  use,  in 
which  the  nitrates  and  phosphates  are  in  excess  of  the 
carbonates,  are  the  common  varieties  of  fish  in  our 
climate.  The  only  available  carbon  in  fish  is  in  the  fat, 
of  which,  in  most  species,  indeed  in  all  species  used 
as  food  in  this  country  or  England,  there  is  but  little, 
the  gelatine,  of  which  in  many  species  there  is  a large 
proportion,  being  used  for  the  same  purpose  as  gelatine 
in  red  meat.  It  is  carbonaceous,  but  not  digestible, 
but  serves  the  valuable  purpose  of  keeping  the  bowels 
in  order.  The  carbonates  necessary  to  keep  up  the 
steam  must,  in  a fish  diet,  be  furnished  either  in  butter, 
the  fat  of  other  animals,  or  in  the  starch  of  vegeta- 
bles and  grains,  of  which,  perhaps,  the  potato  furnishes 
the  most  valuable  supply.  Fish  is  more  easily  digested 
than  red  meat,  but  it  gives  less  muscular  power.  It  is 
not,  therefore,  satisfactory  to  those  whose  labor  consists 
in  lifting  or  steady  muscular  exertion ; but,  having  a 
larger  share  of  phosphates,  it  gives  activity  of  muscle, 
especially  the  flesh  of  such  fish  as  are  themselves  active, 
and  may  be  adapted  therefore  to  those  whose  labor  re- 
quires great  activity  of  muscle,  and  it  is  certainly  good 
diet  for  work  which  requires  study  and  judgment.  To 
enable  us  to  judge  of  the  amount  and  proportions  of 
carbonaceous  and  nitrogenous  elements  necessary,  1 


FOOD  FOR  LABORING  MEN. 


333 


would  refer  to  some  practical  experiments  collated. 
See  pages  97-111. 

The  English  government  has  for  many  years  care- 
fully experimented  on  food  for  soldiers,  and  it  is  found 
that  to  keep  them  in  good  fighting  trim,  five  ounces  of 
nitrogenous  and  twenty  ounces  of  carbonaceous  food 
are  required  daily,  and  while  in  active  service  their 
rations  always  contain  this  amount  of  nourishment. 
The  Dutch  soldier  has  twenty-one  ounces  carbonates 
and  five  ounces  nitrates  while  fighting,  or  preparing  to 
fight;  but  in  garrison,  twenty  ounces  carbonates  and 
three  and  one  half  ounces  nitrates. 

But  our  American  commissaries  seem  not  to  have 
given  suflScient  attention  to  the  subject,  even  to 
learn  the  diflPerence  between  fat  pork  and  lean  beef. 
Accordingly,  at  one  time  our  soldiers  were  obliged  to 
march  a whole  day  on  twelve  ounces  of  fat  pork,  which 
contains  not  a particle  of  food  for  muscles,  and  hard 
tack,  which,  being  made  of  flour  out  of  which  is  bolted 
a large  part  of  its  nitrates,  could  not  in  all  that  could 
be  eaten  contain  one  quarter  of  the  nitrates  necessary ; 
while  at  another  time  the  rations  might  consist  of  lean 
beef,  which  has  in  it  little  else  than  muscle-making 
food. 

By  all  the  facts  that  can  be  gathered  from  bills  of 
fare  of  soldiers,  sailors,  prisoners,  and  other  working 
men  whose  diet  is  accurately  observed,  it  is  ascertained 
that  at  the  average  temperature  in  which  men  work, 
and  with  the  average  activity,  five  ounces  of  nitrates  and 
twenty-one  ounces  of  carbonates  are  required;  and  in 


334 


FOOD  FOR  LABORING  MEN. 


the  staple  articles  of  natural  food,  such  as  the  meats,  fat 
and  lean  together,  and  bread  from  unbolted  grain,  milk, 
eggs,  &c.,  these  necessary  principles  are  found  mixed 
in  about  the  right  proportions ; and  in  eating  them  the 
appetite  will  be  satisfied  with  the  amount  of  food  neces- 
sary to  furnish  these  twenty-six  ounces ; but  if  he  has 
set  before  him  unnatural  food,  that  is,  food  from  which 
has  been  taken  some  of  its  principles,  as  butter,  cheese, 
or  beefsteak,  fine  flour,  or  sugar,  his  appetite  will  not 
direct  him  as  to  quantity.  For  example  : He  may 

eat  of  white  bread  and  butter  all  the  stomach  will  con- 
tain, and  not  be  satisfied,  because  nature  demands  and 
the  appetite  craves  more  nutriment  for  the  muscles  and 
brain ; or,  on  the  other  hand,  he  may  eat  of  cheese,  or 
beefsteak  alone,  twice  as  much  as  is  needed  for  the 
muscles,  while  there  is  still  a demand  for  carbon,  which 
will  not  be  satisfied  till  bread,  or  potatoes,  or  some  other 
carbonaceous  food  is  supplied.  In  either  case  he  will 
eat  too  much ; but  if  he  have  before  him  a variety  of 
natural  food,  such  as  meats  or  grains  or  fish,  and  vege- 
tables and  fruits^  he  may  indulge  his  appetite,  espe- 
cially in  the  early  part  of  the  day,  to  the  fullest  extent, 
without  harm.  Eating  too  much,  then,  comes  of 
eating  unnatural  food.  Why  should  not  other  ani- 
mals, who  have  unrestrained  access  to  their  natural 
food,  eat  too  much? 

But  how  shall  we  guard  against  eating  too  much, 
while  indul^in^:  in  food  not  all  in  its  natural  condition? 
We  have  seen  that  some  articles  of  food  in  common 
use,  both  in  its  natural  and  unnatural  condition,  con- 


FOOD  FOR  LABORING  MEN. 


335 


tain  too  much  of  the  carbonaceous  and  some  too  much 
of  the  nitrogenous  elements,  and  we  have  seen  by  the 
tables  of  analysis,  so  often  referred  to,  that  it  is  easy  to 
learn  which  articles  contain  the  right  proportions,  and 
which  contain  an  excess  of  either  principle,  and  bear- 
ing in  mind  the  proportions  of  each  principle  consumed, 
it  is  easy  to  adjust  a dinner  so  as  to  supply  the  princi- 
ples in  right  proportions. 

If  the  meal  consists  of  meats  of  average  fatness,  — 
more  or  less  fat  according  to  the  temperature  of  the 
weather, — cooked  by  itself,  and  its  juices  saved,  un- 
bolted wheat  bread,  potatoes  and  other  vegetables,  with 
milk,  and  plain  puddings  from  any  grain  in  its  natural 
state,  and  any  good  ripe  fruits,  we  might  eat  as  much 
as  we  desired  of  any  or  all  the  articles  before  us,  with- 
out varying  essentially  the  proportions  of  nitrates  and 
carbonates,  and  without  eating  too  much ; or,  if  we 
have  articles  too  nitrogenous  — as  beefsteak,  or  cheese, 
or  beans,  or  peas  — for  dinner,  it  is  only  necessary  to 
use  with  them  articles  like  butter,  fat  meats,  and  starch 
or  sugar,  and  vegetables,  to  supply  the  deficiency. 

The  difficulty  is,  that  not  knowing  the  constituents  of 
food,  we  use  together  articles  which  are  deficient  in  the 
same  elements,  as  white  bread  and  butter,  pork  and 
hard  tack,  sugar,  butter,  and  flour,  as  in  cake  and 
pastry.  (Refer  to  tables  of  analysis,  pages  120-123) 
Assistance  may  also  be  obtained  from  the  following  table, 
which  shows  what  quantity  of  articles  of  food  in  common 
tise  is  required  to  get  the  five  ounces  of  nitrates  needed 


336 


FOOD  FOR  LABORING  MEN. 


daily,  and  how  much  of  carbonaceous  food  is  had  at  the 
same  time. 

To  get  the  requisite  five  ounces  of  nitrates  requires,  of 


Cheese, 
Southern  corn, 
Beans,  . 

Peas, 

Barley, 

Wheat, 

Oats, 

Northern  corn, 
Rye,  . . 

Rice, 

Buckwheat, 
Potatoes,  . 
Sweet  potato. 
Carrots, 
Cabbage,  . 
Turnips, 
Parsnips,  . 
Apples,  (fee.. 
Milk,  . . 

Beef, 

Mutton, 

Lamb,  . 

Veal,  . . 


Lbs.  Oz.  Oz. 

Total.  Nitr. 

.08  5 

.12  5 

.18  5 

.19  5 

.25  5 

.27  5 

.20  5 

.29  5 

.28  5 

.50  5 

.40  5 

. 15  0 5 

. 20  0 5 

. 50  0 5 

. 10  0 5 

. 28  0 5 

. 25  0 5 

. 5 to  10  5 

.60  5 

.40  5 

.40  5 

.40  5 

.40  5 


Oz. 

Pr.  ct. 

Pr.  ct. 

Carb. 

Waste. 

Water. 

3 

0 

0 

H 

8 

14 

lOi 

17 

15 

lOJ 

19 

14 

22 

16 

14 

21 

CO 

14 

19 

15 

13 

24 

5 

14 

23 

15 

13 

50 

4 

13-1 

35 

3 

14 

51 

3 

75 

65 

H 

67 

51 

H 

87 

2 

4 

90 

2 

4 

90 

25 

9 

82 

5 to  10  5 

86 

20 

4 

86 

45 

5 

44 

64 

4 

44 

35 

H 

50 

28 

H 

62 

FOOD  FOR  LABOKma  MEN. 


337 


Pork,  . , . . 

Lbs.  Oz. 
Total. 

5 8 

Oz. 

Nitr. 

5 

Oz. 

Garb. 

110 

Pr.  Ct, 
WastCt 

H 

Pr.  ct 
Water. 

38 

Lean  beef, 

1 4 

5 

0 

7 

70 

Lean  mutton. 

1 4 

5 

0 

H 

70 

Lean  veal. 

1 4 

5 

0 

6 

75 

Lean  pork. 

1 5 

5 

10 

3 

60 

Lean  fish. 

1 4 

5 

0 

10 

75 

Butter, 

— 

0 

all 

0 

0 

Lard,  .... 

— 

0 

(C 

0 

0 

Fat  of  all  meats. 

— 

0 

6i 

0 

0 

Starch, 

— 

0 

66 

0 

75 

Sugar,  . . . 

— 

0 

66 

0 

75 

Why  is  a Variety  of  Food  necessary? 

Besides  the  three  staple  principles  for  the  supply  of 
muscles,  and  animal  heat,  and  the  brain  and  nerves, 
included  under  the  terms  Nitrates,  Carbonates,  and 
Phosphates,  other  principles  are  needed  and  other  con- 
ditions required  to  keep  the  digestive  organs  in  perfect 
condition  and  the  system  in  perfect  working  order. 

1.  We  need  food  in  amount  or  bulk  sufficient  to  pro- 
duce a proper  degree  of  distention,  else  the  digestive  pro- 
cess cannot  go  on  properly.  The  vegetarian  eats  on  an 
average,  perhaps,  six  pounds  in  a day,  while  of  mixed 
food,  of  meat,  unbolted  bread,  and  vegetables,  and  fruits, 
the  average  may  be  four  pounds.  If,  then,  we  should 
undeitake  to  live  on  cheese  alone,  the  stomach  would  col- 
22 


' 338 


FOOD  FOE  LABOEING  MEN. 


lapse  into  one  eighth  of  its  natural  size,  and  could  not 
secrete  the  necessary  juices,  or  digest  at  all.  With 
cheese,  then,  we  must  have  vegetables  or  fruits,  or 
other  less  concentrated  food,  for  the  purpose  of  disten- 
tion ; and  the  same  remark  applies  to  meats,  beans, 
peas,  &c.,  but  to  a less  extent. 

2.  We  must  have  also  waste,  which  is  the  natural 
stimulant  to  produce  the  healthy  action  of  all  the  diges- 
tive organs.  If,  then,  we  ate  only  cheese,  or  white 
bread  and  butter,  or  confectionery,  or  pastry,  we  should 
soon  die  of  constipation. 

3.  The  acids  and  juices  provided  in  fruits  and  succu- 
lent vegetables  are  needed  also  every  day,  but  more  in 
warm  weather  than  in  cold,  to  eliminate  from  the  sys- 
tem effete  matter ; and  all  nations,  civilized  or  savage, 
make  use  of  them  : and  if  they  are  not  had,  the  liver 
becomes  engorged,  the  brain  and  the  whole  system  be- 
comes inactive,  and,  after  a while,  the  skin  breaks  out 
in  sores,  and  that  degenerate  condition  or  disease  super- 
venes which  is  denominated  scurvy,  to  which  soldiers 
and  sailors  who  are  deprived  of  them  are  subject,  and 
of  which  so  many  are  known  to  die. 

4.  Food,  to  be  well  digested  and  assimilated,  must 
be  adapted  to  the  taste  of  each  individual ; and  a din- 
ner made  up  of  the  necessary  elements,  but  of  articles 
against  which  we  have  an  antipathy,  or  so  cooked  as  to 
offend  the  taste,  will  not  be  digested  at  all,  but  will  be 
rejected  by  the  stomach,  even  while  the  system  requires 
nourishment. 


FOOD  FOR  LABORING  MEN. 


339 


With  these  considerations  in  mind,  let  us  examine 
the  foregoing  table  with  a view  to  a more  practical 
application  to  the  every-day  wants  of  the  laboring 
man. 

What  ComhiHation  of  Food  will  meet  the  daily  Require- 
ments of  the  Laboring  Man? 

The  daily  requirements  are  five  ounces  of  solid  nitrates 
^ for  the  muscles,  twenty  to  twenty-two  ounces  of  carbo- 
nates for  animal  heat,  two  or  three  per  cent,  of  phos- 
phates for  bones  and  for  nervous  power,  with  waste  and 
water  to  give  it  bulk,  and  acids  to  eliminate  effete  mat- 
ter from  the  blood  through  the  liver ; and  this  food 
must  be  so  prepared  and  cooked  as  to  be  eaten  with  a 
relish,  and  not  be  too  easily  digested. 

By  the  foregoing  table  we  see  where  we  can  get  the 
five  ounces  of  nitrogenous  food,  which  is  the  first  daily 
requisite  for  the  laboring  man,  and  we  see  that  in  the 
articles  of  food  which  come  unchanged  from  Nature’s 
storehouse,  we  have  at  the  same  time  a part  of  all  the 
other  requisites,  some  containing  too  many  for  the  ordi- 
nary demands  of  the  system,  and  some  not  sufficient, 
making  a variety  of  food  necessary ; and  we  have  seen 
also  that  the  natural  appetite  and  taste  directs  to  the 
use  of  such  articles  of  natural  food  at  the  same  meal 
as  will  supply  all  the  demands  of  the  system. 

If,  then,  we  had  before  us  every  variety  of  natural 
food,  and  nothing  else,  we  might  follow  our  inclinations 
to  the  fullest  extent  of  our  capacity  without  suffering 


340 


FOOD  FOE  LABOEING  MEN. 


evil  consequences ; but  perverted  as  are  our  tastes  and 
appetites  by  the  constant  use  of  butter,  sugar,  starch, 
and  lard,  which  are  separated  from  their  food  for  mus- 
cles, nerves,  and  brains,  our  appetites  and  tastes  are 
not  a true  guide,  and  we  form  a habit  of  taking  too 
much  carbonaceous  food,  with  consequences  such  as  are 
elsewhere  described. 

Under  these  circumstances,  it  becomes  us  to  put  our 
appetites  under  the  guardianship  of  reason  and  common 
sense.  And  after  all  the  mystery  and  darkness  in 
which,  in  our  ignorance,  we  have  permitted  this  subject 
to  be  enshrouded,  it  is  not  a complicated  question  in- 
volving great  mental  power  to  comprehend,  or  memory 
to  retain  its  principles.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  very 
simple,  easily  understood,  and  easily  remembered. 

Articles  of  Food  in  common  Use  containing  an  Excess 
of  Nitrogenous  Matter. 

These  are  very  few,  and  may  all  be  embraced  in  the 
following  articles  : Cheese,  southern  corn,  beans,  peas, 
lean  meats,  fish,  green  vegetables,  and  fruits ; and  these 
require  more  or  less  food  containing  carbon  in  excess, 
as  may  be  seen  by  the  degree  of  deficiency  noted  in  the 
preceding  table ; and  all  we  have  to  do  is  to  supply  the 
deficiency  with  the  articles  containing  an  excess  of  car- 
bon, as  shown  also  in  the  table  — only  remembering  that 
we  require  about  twenty  ounces  carbonaceous  food  to 
five  ounces  nitrogenous. 


FOOD  FOR  LABORING  MEN. 


341 


Articles  of  Food  in  common  Use  containing  an  Excess 
of  Carbonaceous  Matter. 

These  consist  of  fats  and  oils,  including  butter,  and 
of  starch  and  sugar ; and  the  articles  of  natural  food 
in  common  use  containing  an  excess  of  either  of  these 
principles  are  rice,  buckwheat,  potatoes,  sweet  pota- 
toes, carrots,  beets,  and  the  meats  of  all  domestic  ani- 
mals, as  they  are  usually  fattened  for  the  market,  and 
some  species  of  fish  used  in  northern  regions.  But  the 
articles  from  which  we  derive  most  of  our  excess  of 
heating  food  are  the  unnatural  articles,  — butter,  sugar, 
lard,  superfine  flour  (flour  only  containing  anything  but 
heating  food,  and  that  only  a little),  and  in  some  places 
fat  pork. 

With  these  data  before  us,  it  requires  but  little  study 
to  understand  what  articles  of  food  are  to  be  used  at 
the  same  meal,  and  what  combination  of  articles  should 
be  avoided.  It  would  be  folly  to  undertake  to  live  on 
cheese,  or  beans,  or  peas,  or  lean  meat,  or  fish  alone, 
or  all  of  them  combined.  We  should  lose  our  fat,  and 
become  cold  and  die,  for  want  of  natural  warmth  of 
blood.  It  is  equal  folly  to  try  to  live  on  butter,  sugar, 
fine  flour,  or  lard,  or  all  combined,  as  in  pastry,  cake, 
&c.  Animals  submitted  to  the  experiment  of  such  a 
combination  alone,  have  died  in  from  thirty  to  forty 
days ; and  probably  three  fourths  of  all  the  deaths 
recorded  in  our  bills  of  mortality  are  the  results  of 
over-heated  blood,  and  consequent  inflammations  and 


342 


FOOD  FOR  LABORING  MEN. 


diseases  induced  by  the  excess  of  carbonaceous  food 
on  the  organs  and  functions,  rendered  weak,  and  their 
recuperative  power  lost  or  greatly  impaired,  for  want 
of  the  strength-giving  nitrates  and  phosphates  required, 
as  has  been  elsewhere  explained. 

How  few  and  simple,  then,  are  the  requirements 
necessary  so  to  combine  the  principles  of  food  that  are 
within  the  reach  of  all  industrious  families  in  this  coun- 
try at  least,  as  to  insure  at  the  same  time  economy,  the 
pleasures  of  eating,  health,  long  life,  and  usefulness ; 
and  to  all  but  the  most  perverse  and  ungrateful,  cheer- 
fulness, and  domestic  peace  and  happiness  ! I venture 
the  assertion  that  with  one  quarter  of  the  time,  and 
without  any  of  the  expense  that  is  devoted  to  the  silly 
and  ridiculous  foibles  made  necessary  by  the  demand 
of  fashion,  these  blessings  might  be  secured  to  all  in- 
telligent families ; and  instead  of  losing,  as  they  now 
do,  one  half  of  their  children  before  they  come  to  matu- 
rity, and  finding  most  of  the  other  half  feeble,  sickly, 
and  worthless,  except,  perhaps,  a very  few  who  might 
die  from  casualties  and  from  diseases  inherited  from  a 
degenerate  ancestry,  their  sons  would  ''  be  as  plants 
grown  up  in  their  youth,”  and  their  daughters  ”as 
corner-stones,  polished  after  the  similitude  of  a palace.” 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  LIVING  NATURALLY.  343 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  TAKING  FOOD  IN 
NATUKAL  PEOPOETIONS. 

By  something  like  a telegraphic  arrangement  the 
stomach  is  kept  informed  of  the  wants  of  every  organ 
and  function ; and,  through  the  appetite,  a demand  is 
made  for  nitrates  for  muscular  strength,  or  carbonates 
for  animal  heat,  or  phosphates  for  bones,  and  nerves, 
and  brain,  until  all  are  supplied.  And  if  we  take 
food  in  its  natural  state,  so  as  to  supply  all  these  de- 
mands at  the  same  time,  the  appetite  is  satisfied  with- 
out waste  material.  For  example,  take  unbolted  wheat 
bread  and  milk,  containing,  as  they  both  do,  a due 
proportion  of  elements  for  muscle,  animal  heat,  and 
brains.  The  appetite  is  satisfied  when  just  enough 
food  is  taken  to  supply  the  ten  ounces  of  carbonates 
and  two  and  a half  ounces  of  nitrates,  for  twelve  hours’ 
supply.  But  suppose  we  take,  instead,  white  flour 
bread  and  butter.  When  we  have  taken  the  ten  ounces 
of  carbonates  which  the  system  requires  for  the  meal, 
we  have  received  less  than  one  quarter  of  the  necessary 
nitrates  and  phosphates,  and  until  these  principles  arc 
supplied  the  appetite  demands  more  food ; and  if  we 
attempt  to  satisfy  these  demands  by  the  same  food, 
we  must  take  four  times  as  much  of  carbonates  as  are 
needed,  and  the  surplus,  not  being  wanted,  after  em- 


344  THE  ECONOMY  OF  LIVING  NATUKALLY. 

barrassing  the  system  for  a time,  is  finally  thrown  oflf 
into  the  vault.  And  thus,  by  our  daily  habit  of  using, 
with  articles  already  having  their  natural  proportion  of 
carbonates,  butter,  sugar,  and  fine  flour,  as  we  do  in 
cakes,  pastry,  confectionery,  sweet  sauces,  &c.,  we 
waste  three  quarters  of  all  these  expensive  articles. 

With  less  than  half  the  expense  that  is  thus  wasted 
on  these  articles,  to  say  nothing  of  the  doctor’s  bills, 
and  loss  of  time  occasioned  by  inflammatory  diseases, 
we  might  purchase  all  the  choice  fruits,  and  vegetables, 
and  meats  necessary  to  give  us  the  highest  gustatory 
pleasures  of  which  we  are  capable  ; and,  at  the 
same  time,  save  doctor’s  bills  and  loss  of  time  from 
sickness.  On  natural  food,  therefore,  judiciously  se- 
lected, a family  can  be  raised,  in  the  full  enjoyment 
of  robust  health,  and  substantial,  enduring  happiness, 
for  less  than  half  the  cost  of  trying  to  keep  alive  our 
feeble,  pale-faced,  sickly  children  on  white  bread  and 
butter,  pies,  cakes,  and  candy. 


THE  PLEASURES  OP  LIVING  NATURALLY.  345 


NATUEAL  FOOD  AFFOEDS  THE  HIGHEST 
GUSTATOEY  ENJOYMENT. 

That  is  certainly  a beautiful  provision  of  our  heav- 
enly Father,  by  which  perfect  happiness  is  made  to 
consist  in  perfect  obedience  to  his  laws ; and  this  per- 
tains to  every  department  of  our  nature,  moral  and 
physical.  Indeed,  there  can  be  no  real,  unalloyed 
enjoyment  but  in  perfect  obedience  to  moral,  mental, 
physiological,  or  physical  law.  It  may  be  true  in 
dietetics,  as  it  is  in  morals,  that  ” no  man  liveth  and 
sinneth  not,”  and  therefore  no  man  enjoys  perfect, 
unalloyed,  pleasures  in  eating;  but  in  the  one  case, 
as  in  the  other,  he  enjoys  most  who  most  nearly  obeys 
the  laws  of  his  nature. 

Every  article  of  natural  food  is  provided  with  its 
own  particular  flavor,  or  osmazome^  which  distin- 
guishes it  from  every  other  article ; and  this  osmazome 
is  most  perfectly  developed  just  when  it  is  so  prepared 
as  to  be  best  adapted  to  furnish  us  wholesome  nour- 
ishment. Beefsteak  has  its  most  agreeable  flavor  de- 
veloped with  just  the  amount  of  cooking  that  best  fits 
it  for  digestion.  And  this  is  true  of  all  meats  and 
vegetables ; while  the  peach,  and  other  fruits  which 
need  no  cooking,  have  their  most  agreeable  flavor 
developed  without  cooking,  and,  when  fully  ripe,  the 


346  THE  PLEASURES  OF  LIVING  NATURALLV. 


slightest  amount  of  cooking  diminishes  their  flavorj  as 
any  extra  cooking  or  re-cooking  of  meats  and  vegeta- 
bles diminishes  their  flavor,  and  renders  them  less 
wholesome. 

This  principle,  osmazome^  seems  to  be  imparted  for 
no  other  purpose  than  to  make  food  agreeable,  and 
give  us  gustatory  pleasure.  And  of  course  our  natu- 
ral tastes  are  made  to  harmonize  with  these  natural 
flavors,  so  as  to  enable  us  to  appreciate  and  enjoy 
them ; and,  until  they  are  perverted,  we  do  enjoy 
them  — just  as  all  other  pleasures  of  the  senses  afford 
pleasure  unalloyed  till  perverted. 

A child  who  has  never  tasted  of  pies,  cakes,  candy, 
or  any  other  unnatural  food,  will  much  prefer  wheat 
bread  and  milk,  or  fruit,  to  any  of  them.  This  I have 
seen  in  a grandson  four  years  old,  who  had  eaten  noth- 
ing but  milk,  unbolted  meal  bread,  fruits,  and  other 
natural  food,  and  who,  in  a large  party  of  little  ones, 
all  eating  cakes  and  confectionery,  could  not  be  in- 
duced to  eat  a thing,  till  he  found  an  apple,  which  he 
recognized  as  natural  food.  The  inference,  then,  that 
butter  and  sugar  must  be  good,  because  children  love 
them,  is  fallacious.  Their  natural  love  is  for  butter 
and  sugar  as  they  are  found  in  milk  and  fruits,  in  their 
natural  combinations  with  other  necessary  elements. 

The  first  time  sugar  or  butter  is  given  to  a child 
the  sensation  is  such  as  to  produce  a shudder,  and  the 
little  victim  clearly  indicates  a disapprobation  of  such 
concentrated  sapidity ; but  he  so  soon  yields  to  his  fate 


RESPONSIBILITY  OF  PARENTS. 


347 


that  parents  come  to  think  his  love  for  these  things  is 
natural.  The  taste  is  generally  tampered  with  in  the  liist 
hour  of  life,  by  the  sugar  and  water  which  its  thought- 
ful nurse  administers  lest  the  poor  thing  might  starve 
before  Nature  gets  ready  to  provide  for  it ; and  th<m, 
for  the  hiccups  which  this  unnatural  feeding  is  sure  to 
produce,  it  must  have  pure  sugar ; and  thus  the  taste 
is  perverted  in  the  first  week  of  its  life,  and  then  the 
first  solid  food  that  is  put  into  its  mouth  is,  probably, 
white  bread,  spread,  perhaps,  with  butter. 

No,  no ; Nature  is  not  so  inconsistent  as  to  give  us 
a natural  taste  for  unnatural  food.  Nothing,  to  my 
mind,  can  be  clearer  than  that  the  responsibility  of 
the  love  of  concentrated  carbonaceous  food,  which 
undoubtedly  causes,  directly  or  indirectly,  three  fourths 
of  all  the  sickness,  suffering,  and  death  of  our  chil- 
dren, rests  on  parents.  And  yet  how  hard  it  is  to 
convince  them  that  what  their  mothers  did  for  them, 
and  what  they  lived  through,  can  be  w^rong. 

In  vain  you  remind  them  of  their  less  hardy  brothers 
and  sisters,  who  have  long  since  been  laid  in  the  grave 
from  inflammations  and  other  diseases  induced  by  heat- 
ing food.  In  vain  you  show  them  the  reasonableness 
of  obeying  Nature’s  laws,  and  the  fact  that  animals 
who  do  obey  them  enjoy  health,  and  lose  none  of  their 
offspring.  Their  only  answer  is,  ”I  feed  my  child 
as  my  mother  fed  me.  I did  very  well.  I guess  the 
little  sugar,  and  cake,  and  white  bread  and  butter 
which  I give  won’t  hurt  them.”  But,  I thank  God, 


348 


RESPONSIBILITY  OF  PARENTS. 


there  are  those  who  have  sense  enough  to  see  the  folly 
of  such  persistence  in  wrong,  and  who,  giving  reason 
and  common  sense  control  over  silly  prejudices,  pursue 
the  right  as  soon  as  they  learn  it.  Such  will  have  the 
happiness  to  see  their  brains  transmitted  to  healthy  and 
useful  children,  while  those  whose  only  rule  is  to  do  as 
their  mothers  did  before  them  will  transmit  a race  more 
silly,  feeble,  and  degenerate  than  themselves  (for  the 
evil  effects  of  disobedience  accumulate  from  genera- 
tion to  generation),  and  will  see  them  living  a life 
of  struggle  with  disease  and  suffering,  or  will  prema- 
turely bury  them,  murmuring,  perhaps,  at  the  cruelty 
of  their  fate. 

Suppose  a mother,  in  ordinary  health,  having  a 
healthy  husband,  should  always  live  on  natural  food, 
or,  at  least,  should  commence,  seven  or  eight  months 
before  her  child  is  born,  and  allow  nothing  to  pass  her 
lips  but  food  containing  all  the  elements  that  nature 
has  furnished  in  it,  and  should  take  no  elements  in 
liquids  but  such  as  Nature  furnishes  in  the  juices  of 
fruits,  vegetables,  milk,  and  pure  water,  and  con- 
tinue that  course,  without  exception,  till  the  child  is 
old  enough  to  be  weaned ; — having  all  the  materials 
for  making  a perfect  child,  just  as  they  are  naturally 
provided,  will  Nature  fiiil  to  use  these  materials,  so  as 
to  leave  any  organ  or  function  defective?  Having 
lime,  silex,  potash,  and  insoluble  phosphates  for  the 
bones  and  teeth,  with  no  foreign  elements  to  interfere 
with  the  process  of  forming  them,  perfect  teeth  will 
surely  be  formed.  Having  nitrogenous  elements  for 


RESPONSIBILITY  OF  PARENTS. 


849 


muscles  and  solid  tissues,  soluble  phosphates  and  other 
materials  for  the  brain  and  nerves,  carbon  and  hydro- 
gen for  adipose  matter  and  to  furnish  animal  heat, 
and  all  these  elements  and  principles  in  the  combina- 
tions and  proportions  which  she  herself  has  adjusted. 
Nature  cannot  fail  to  furnish  a child  perfect  in  all  its 
parts  and  functions. 

Then,  supposing  it  continues  to  be  furnished  with 
natural  food  and  drinks,  allowing  no  foreign  elements 
to  enter  the  system,  and  conforming  to  other  necessary 
requirements  as  to  pure  air,  cleanliness,  exercise,  com- 
fortable temperature,  protection,  &c.,  when  can  the 
organs  or  functions  begin  to  be  imperfect,  or  to  become 
diseased?  Indeed,  if  he  should  not,  in  all  respects, 
conform  to  laws  of  his  being,  his  constitution,  being 
kept  in  order  by  natural  food,  will  have  recuperative 
power  to  ward  oflp  or  overcome  the  evil  effects,  and 
health,  nevertheless,  be  continued  or  restored.  Then, 
again,  with  recuperative  powers,  derived  from  con- 
forming to  Nature’s  laws,  and  living  on  natural  food, 
diseases  from  external  causes,  as  small-pox,  measles, 
&c.,  could  all  be  controlled,  and  made  harmless. 
Surely,  then,  it  is  a sin  and  a shame,  as  well  as  a 
misfortune,  to  have  feeble,  half-developed,  sickly  chil-* 
dren  ; and,  instead  of  murmuring  at  the  Providence 
that  removes  them  from  us,  we  should  repent,  in  dust 
and  ashes,  that,  by  our  neglect  of  the  clearly-revealed 
laws  of  Nature,  it  becomes  a merciful  necessity  to  re- 
move them  from  the  evil  to  come ; and  if  too  late,  for 
benefit  to  ourselves  and  our  children,  to  do  works  meet 


350  SOME  LIVE  IN  SPITE  OF  WRONG  HABITS. 

for  repentance,  we  should  cease  not  to  teach  the  young 
the  laws  of  life  and  health,  and  " to  warn  every  one, 
night  and  day,  with  tears,”  to  escape  the  punishment 
which  has  been  inflicted  on  us  for  our  transgressions. 
But  we  shall  meet  a class  of  cases  harder  to  reach 
than  those  who  have  suffered  the  loss  of  health  and 
the  loss  of  children. 

Those  who  live  and  seem  to  enjoy  Health  in  spite  of 
wrong  Habits  of  living. 

An  old  toper,  who  has  kept  his  copper  hot  with  whis- 
key or  rum  for  half  a century,  and  who  has  outlived 
all  his  drinking  companions  by  scores  of  years,  cannot 
see  that  he  lives  because  he  is  too  tough  to  be  killed  by 
that  which  has  killed  all  his  old  toper  friends,  but  very 
likely  thinks  he  should  have  been  dead  long  ago  but  for 
the  preserving  power  of  alcohol. 

An  excellent  old  lady  of  seventy-flve  years,  who  had 
taken  green  tea  from  her  youth,  till  by  the  tannin  it 
contained  her  skin  had  been  dried  and  tanned  into  the 
resemblance  of  what  indeed  it  really  was,  dark-brown 
leather,  said  to  a friend,  in  sober  earnest,  " There  will 
probably  be  very  few  more  old  people  in  Boston,  for 
everybody  is  leaving  off  drinking  green  tea.” 

After  Carnaro  lived  fifty-eight  years  on  twelve 
ounces  of  solid  food  and  fourteen  ounces  of  light  wines 
each  day,  containing  a mere  trifle  of  alcohol.  Professor 
Lewes  (himself  a drinker  of  alcohol) , ''  wonders  that 


SOME  LIVE  IN  SPITE  OF  WRONG  HABITS.  351 


intelligent  men,  in  view  of  such  a fact,  can  doubt  that 
alcohol  is  nutritious.” 

I have  tried  in  vain  to  persuade  a young  mother,  who 
has  inherited  a good  constitution,  and  who  is  one  of  six 
children,  all  but  two  of  whom  lived  to  maturity,  the 
remaining  four,  however,  being  subject  to  dyspepsia, 
neuralgia,  colics,  and  all  the  other  sufferings  induced 
by  too  heating  food,  to  bring  up  her  child  in  obedience 
to  Nature’s  laws,  trying  to  show  her  that  the  chances 
of  its  living  to  grow  up  will  be  doubled,  and  her  ex- 
emption from  suffering  vastly  greater,  as  it  will  be  less 
liable  to  sickness,  and  have  greater  recuperative  power 
to  overcome  it ; but  she  says  she  is  willing  to  trust  her 
child  with  the  same  treatment  that  she  herself  had,  and 
lived  through,  and  so  in  the  first  winter  of  life  the  top 
of  its  lungs  are  exposed  by  low-necked  dresses,  and  it 
is  fed  with  sugar,  cakes,  white  bread  and  butter,  &c., 
and  now,  as  it  has  lived  through  the  winter  and  spring 
without  lung  fever,  — as  I told  her  it  might  not,  — she 
is  fully  confirmed  that  she  is  right,  and  will  probably 
go  on  risking  its  life  further  and  further  till,  unless  it 
proves  tougher  than  the  majority  of  children,  some  in- 
flammatory disease  will  take  it  from  them ; and  even 
then  it  is  hardly  probable  she  will  be  convinced  of  her 
responsibility  in  the  case.  And  thus  it  is  now,  as  in  the 
times  of  Ecclesiastes  the  Preacher,  ” Because  sentence 
against  an  evil  work  is  not  executed  speedily,  therefore 
the  heart  of  the  sons  of  men  is  fully  set  in  them  to  do 
evil.” 


352 


FOOD  FOR  SEDENTARY  PEOPLE, 


FOOD  FOR  SEDENTARY  PEOPLE. 

By  experiments  made  on  five  hundred  prisoners,  in 
five  jails  in  Scotland,  it  was  found  that  the  least 
amount  of  food  that  would  keep  men  up  to  their 
standard  weight  while  sitting  still  in  a moderate  tem- 
perature, was  four  ounces  of  solid  nitrogenous  food 
and  thirteen  ounces  of  carbonaceous.  And  we  also  see 
that  soldiers  in  active  service,  and  laboring  men,  re- 
quire from  twenty  to  twenty-three  ounces  of  carbonates 
and  five  ounces  of  nitrates. 

By  these  data  we  can  estimate  the  amount  of  these 
principles  required  in  different  degrees  of  exercise,  but 
we  must  also  consider  the  difference  in  quality  of  food 
adapted  to  different  conditions.  Laboring  men  require 
more  of  such  nitrogenous  food  as  gives  most  fibre  and 
strength  of  muscle,  as  the  flesh  of  active  animals,  cheese, 
beans,  peas,  &c.,  which  contain  fibrine  and  casein,  which 
make  fibrine  for  the  muscles ; while  sedentary  men  re- 
quire more  of  gluten  and  albumen,  which  are  found  in 
fish,  eggs,  grain,  &c.  Then,  again,  the  carbonates 
which  are  adapted  to  sedentary  life  are  sugar  and 
starch,  rather  than  most  of  the  fat  of  meats,  and  they 
need  more  of  acids  to  eliminate  effete  matter  from  the 
liver,  which  accumulates  for  want  of  activity.  They 


FOOD  FOK  SEDENTARY  PEOPLE. 


353 


need,  also,  more  waste  material,  to  keep  the  bowels  in 
action,  and  therefore  require,  besides  the  grains  in  their 
natural  state,  more  vegetables  and  fruits,  which  furnish 
waste  as  well  as  acids ; and  these  waste  and  acid  prin- 
c'ples  are  needed  more  in  spring  than  at  any  other  time, 
especially  the  acid  fruits.  Not  that  that  is  Nature's  ar- 
rangement, or  that  these  requirements  would  be  needed 
if  we  lived  in  winter  as  we  should ; but  sedentary  peo- 
ple spend  most  of  their  time  in  winter  in  a warm  atmos- 
phere, and  need,  therefore,  vegetables  and  fruits  almost 
as  much  as  in  summer ; but  not  having  them,  and  eat- 
ing more  of  the  fatty  materials  which  produce  this  state 
of  things,  the  liver  becomes  engorged  with  effete  matter, 
which  vegetable  food  alone  is  adapted  to  remove. 

This  can  be  tolerated  in  winter,  when  the  system  has 
more  physical  energy,  especially  if  a part  of  the  time 
is  spent  in  the  open  air.  But  when  warm  weather 
comes  on,  and  the  system  becomes  dormant,  the 
liver,  partaking  of  the  general  inactivity,  cannot  per- 
form the  extra  duties  of  disgorging  matter  thus  accu- 
mulated, and  jaundice,  and  other  bilious  difficulties 
ensue.  In  such  cases  medicines  which  act  directly  on 
the  liver  may  afford  temporary  relief ; but  Nature's  sov- 
ereign remedy  is  found  in  the  juices  of  fruits  and  vege- 
tables. 

Sedentary  people  not  only  need  different  kinds  of 
food  from  active  laborers,  but  they  require  it  differently 
cooked.  Active  men  can  live  and  thrive  on  salted  and 
boiled  meats,  as  I have  before  explained,  out  of  which 
have  been  taken  the  soluble  phosphates  and  the  albu- 
' 28 


354  FOOD  FOR  SEDE1STA.RY  PEOPLE. 

men,  because  they  retain  the  elements  which  give 
strength  to  bones  and  muscles ; but  these  last  elements 
are  essential  to  sedentary  men,  as  are  also  the  sugar, 
albumen,  and  soluble  phosphates  of  vegetables,  which 
are  lost  in  soaking  and  boiling  in  water,  unless  the 
water  in  which  they  are  boiled  or  soaked  is  retained 
and  used  as  gravy  or  soup. 

Active  men,  having  also  good  digestive  powers,  can 
dispose  of  food  out  of  which  is  taken,  by  salting,  or 
soaking  or  boiling,  the  osmazome,  or  flavor,  which  so 
essentially  assists  in  the  digestion  of  food ; but  those 
who  have  little  out-of-door  exercise,  and  require  less 
food,  having  less  powers  of  digestion,  need  the  aid  of 
all  these  flavors,  and  every  other  auxiliary  to  digestion. 
They  should,  therefore,  have  all  their  food  so  cooked  as 
to  retain  every  element  and  every  quality  which  Nature 
has  provided  in  it,  so  as  to  make  it  most  agreeable  to 
the  taste,  and  most  digestible. 

Flavor,  which  is  essential  to  good  Digestion,  is  vola- 
tile, and  may  be  lost  in  cooking. 

That  principle  which  gives  relish  to  food,  and  wli’ch 
distinguishes  one  article  from  another,  called  osmazome^ 

[ have  explained,  and  I propose  here  only  to  show  how 
:t  can  be  preserved  in  cooking. 

Go  into  any  house  where  meats  and  vegetables  are 
being  cooked  in  the  open  air  in  the  basement,  and  you 
find  the  air  filled  with  the  combined  flavor  of  every 


FOOD  FOR  SEDENTARY  PEOPLE.  35^ 

article.  Of  course  all  the  flavor  thus  diffused  is  lost 
for  the  purpose  for  which  Nature  intended  it,  and  the 
food  is  rendered  insipid  to  the  extent  to  which  it  is  thus 
diffused,  and  to  the  same  extent  it  becomes  indigestible. 
Tliis  is  proved  by  the  fact  adverted  to  (page  214),  where 
good  meat  was  boiled  in  the  open  air  till  all  its  osma- 
zome  was  removed,  but  which  retained  all  other  essential 
elements  ; and  the  stomach  of  the  dog,  which  was  allowed 
no  other  food,  so  rejected  it  that,  rather  than  eat  it,  he 
would  have  died  of  starvation. 

All  meats  and  vegetables  should  therefore  be  cooked 
by  a process  which  not  only  saves  the  soluble  nitrates, 
phosphates,  and  carbonates,  as  before  stated,  but  also 
the  osmazome ; and  for  that  purpose,  the  steamer  in- 
vented by  Zimmermann,  and  improved  by  Duncklee,  is 
an  admirable  arrangement,  saving,  as  it  does,  all  the 
flavor,  and  condensing  it  in  the  water  at  the  bottom, 
so  that  the  smell  is  not  perceptible  in  the  house  or 
kitchen  in  which  it  is  cooked,  and  so  that  it  may  all  be 
returned  to  the  meats  or  vegetables,  vastly  improving 
their  flavor  and  digestibility. 

The  flavor  of  soups  may  also  be  greatly  improved  by 
putting  together  every  article  to  be  used,  first  soaking 
them  in  cold  water,  and  using  that  water  only  in  the 
steamer,  then  steaming  them  gently,  so  as  not  to  allow 
the  steam  to  escape,  and  serving  all  the  liquid  that  re- 
mains, diluted  more  or  less  to  suit  the  taste.  Soup 
thus  made,  with  a variety  of  vegetables,  and  one  kind 
of  meat  not  before  cooked,  is  to  an  unperverted  taste 


356 


FOOD  FOR  SEDENTARY  PEOPLE. 


delicious,  without  the  addition  of  a single  condiment 
except  a little  salt,  (and  the  taste  may  be  trained  to 
relish  soup  and  other  food  without  salt ; but  there  is  no 
evidence  that  a little  is  injurious.  Cattle  that  have 
access  to  salt  eat  all  they  want  without  injury.)  Of 
course  its  flavor  may  be  varied  to  suit  the  tastes  of  the 
family,  by  using  such  vegetables  as  are  most  agreeable, 
and  by  avoiding  any  article  known  to  be  offensive  to 
any. 

Roast  meats  may  also  be  greatly  improved  by  first 
steaming  them  for  a short  time  with  the  vegetables  to 
be  used,  and  saving  the  water,  to  be  used  with  the  drip- 
pings of  the  meat  for  gravy,  instead  of  the  vile  stuff 
made  of  flour  and  butter  and  spices,  which  is  usually 
served  for  gravy. 

Onlv  one  kind  of  meat  should  ever  be  cooked  in  the 
same  steamer  or  roaster  at  the  same  time ; otherwise, 
by  mixing  the  flavors,  all  meats  taste  alike,  and  we  get 
no  variety.  For  this  reason,  hotel  life  soon  becomes 
tiresome,  and  the  food  loathsome.  All  the  meats  being 
cooked  in  the  same  oven,  and  served  with  the  same 
gravy,  you  may  call  for  beef,  pork,  veal,  mutton,  or 
chicken,  but  cannot  tell  by  the  taste  which  you  get. 


FOOD  FOR  WINTER. 


S57 


FOOD  FOR  WINTER. 

That  carbonaceous  food  furnishes  animal  heat  is  clear- 
ly proved,  and  that,  therefore,  we  need  more  starch,  or 
fat,  to  keep  us  warm  in  winter,  just  as  we  need  more 
coal  and  wood  to  warm  our  apartments,  there  is  no 
doubt.  Some  hypercritical  professor,  who  rides  theo- 
retical physiology  as  a hobby,  may  again  object  to  the 
comparison,  unless  I fully  explain  the  difference  be- 
tween combustion  of  fuel  and  the  vital  process  by 
which  animal  heat  is  produced ; but  if  I am  able  so 
to  explain  to  common-sense  minds  the  use  of  carbona- 
ceous food,  as  to  enable  them  to  obtain  its  benefits  and 
avoid  its  evils,  I care  very  little  for  cavilling  criticism. 
I have  already  explained  the  fact  that  fats  and  oils, 
having  in  them  no  water,  contain  two  and  one  half 
times  more  carbon  than  starch  and  sugar,  that  contain 
i large  per  cent,  of  water.  Fats  and  oils,  therefore, 
are  adapted  to  cold  weather,  when  large  supplies  of 
heat  are  needed  ; and  accordingly  Nature  furnishes  this 
principle  in  cold  climates,  in  the  adipose  covering  of 
the  flesh  of  seals,  whales,  and  other  animals  which  need 
it  for  their  own  protection  from  the  cold,  and  also  in 
the  corn  and  grains,  which  contain  oil  as  well  as  starch 
m proportion  to  the  cold  of  the  climate  in  which  it 


358 


FOOD  FOR  WINTER. 


grows.  (See  plates  on  page  00.)  So  that  the  Green* 
lander  may  have  his  excessive  demand  for  heat  supplied 
by  the  excessive  fatness  of  the  seals  and  bears  of  that 
region,  and  the  Canadian  can  be  supplied  by  the  oil  and 
starch  of  his  corn,  either  directly  in  his  corn  cakes,  or 
indirectly  in  the  fat  which  they  furnish  to  his  pigs  and 
cattle. 

People  who  live  in  the  open  air  in  cold  climates  are 
not  in  danger  of  eating  too  much  carbonaceous  food, 
even  the  gallon  of  whale  oil,  or  twelve  pounds  of  can- 
dles, which  an  Esquimaux  woman  is  said  to  eat  in  a day, 
being  only  enough  to  keep  up  the  necessary  heat.  But 
they  who  live  in  warm  houses,  and  seldom  go  out  in  the 
cold,  may  and  generally  do  eat  too  much  carbonaceous 
food ; and  not  having  in  winter  so  much  of  the  coun- 
teracting influence  of  fruits  and  succulent  vegetables, 
suffer  even  more  from  that  cause  than  in  summer. 

Why  is  it  that  we  suffer  more  from  inflammatory  dis- 
eases, especially  of  the  throat,  air  passages  and  lungs, 
in  winter  than  in  summer  ? Eating,  as  we  do  in  winter, 
more  fat  meat,  buttered  cakes,  buckwheats,  &c.,  with 
less  of  fruits  and  vegetables,  and  spending  most  of  our 
time  in  warm  rooms,  we  keep  up  that  heated  condition 
of  the  system  which  predisposes  it  to  inflammations, 
and  exposing,  as  we  do,  perhaps,  for  twenty-three  out 
of  the  twenty-four  hours,  the  nasal  organs,  air  passages 
and  lungs,  to  a warm  and  relaxing  atmosphere,  and 
then  for  one  hour,  perhaps,  exposing  them  to  air  below 
the  freezing  point,  and  perhaps  at  zero,  the  vessels  of 
the  mucous  membranes  are  first  expanded  and  filled 


FOOD  FOR  WINTER. 


359 


with  blood,  and  then  suddenly  contracted  and  the  blood 
expelled. 

This  naturally  causes  inflammation  of  the  parts  thus 
exposed,  rather  than  other  parts  not  thus  exposed,  and 
thus  in  winter  we  have  catarrh,  sore  throat,  bronchitis, 
lung  fevers,  &c.,  unless  perchance  we  get  a chill  on  some 
muscles  or  other  organs  by  exposure  to  currents  of  air 
or  damp  clothing ; then  we  may  have,  instead,  rheuma- 
tism or  gout,  or  some  other  disease  to  which  we  may  be 
predisposed. 

Nature  evidently  made  provision  in  each  climate  for 
us  to  live  mostly  in  the  open  air ; for  we  find  that  the 
starch  in  grains  and  seeds,  and  the  proportion  of  fat  in 
all  animals,  compared  with  the  muscle-making  ele- 
ments, are  furnished  in  proportion  to  the  average 
amount  of  cold  for  the  year  of  the  climate  in  which 
the  animals  or  grains  grow  or  live.  For  example : 
The  weight  of  wheat  is  mostly  made  up  of  starch  and 
gluten ; and  hundreds  of  analyses  have  been  made  to 
ascertain  their  relative  proportions  in  different  climates 
of  Europe,  and  it  is  found  to  vary  from  the  cold  north- 
ern states  of  Scotland  and  Northern  Russia,  from  ten 
per  cent,  of  gluten  in  these  northern  climates  to  thirty- 
five  per  cent,  in  Italy  and  Turkey  and  the  more  south- 
ern climates,  the  remainder  being  mostly  starch.  And 
the  same  fact  has  been  shown  by  comparing  the  wheat 
of  Canada  with  that  of  Georgia  and  Alabama  in  this 
country.  And  to  show  that  this  is  not  an  accidental 
circumstance,  wheat  from  Canada  has  been  sown  and 
raised  in  Georgia,  and  the  first  year  it  will  produce 


360 


FOOD  FOR  WINTER. 


nearly  the  amount  of  starch  as  the  same  kind  in 
Canada ; but  if  the  product  be  again  raised  in  Geor- 
gia, the  next  crop  will  contain  less  starch,  and  it  will 
thus  continue  to  diminish,  if  continuously  raised,  till  its 
proportions  are  the  same  as  Georgia  wheat ; and  the 
change  will  be  reversed  by  raising  Georgia  wheat  in 
Canada ; and  the  same  effect  is  produced  by  the  same 
process  on  corn  and  other  grain.  For  those,  therefore, 
who  in  this  climate  live  mostly  in  warm  houses,  and 
spend  but  little  time  in  open  air,  and  for  warm  weath- 
er, bread  from  Southern  corn  and  Southern  wheat  is 
much  more  wholesome  than  from  Northern  corn  or 
wheat. 


CHRONIC  DISEASES  CURED. 


361 


CHRONIC  DISEASES  CURED  BY  DIET. 

In  another  chapter  I have  shown  that  extra  carbona- 
ceous food,  by  keeping  up  the  heat  of  the  blood  above 
its  natural  temperature,  predisposes  the  whole  system 
to  fevers  and  inflammations,  and  renders  these  fevers 
and  inflammations  less  easily  cured,  just  as  exposure  of 
wood  and  other  combustible  substances  to  heat  renders 
them  liable  to  combustion,  and  makes  it  more  diflScult 
to  subdue  the  flames  if  once  commenced. 

Extra  carbonaceous  food,  then,  is  the  predisposing 
cause  of  catarrhs,  sore  throats,  lung  fevers,  and  inflam- 
mations generally.  The  exciting  cause  is  change  of 
temperature,  producing  undue  contraction  and  expan- 
sion of  blood  vessels ; but  if  there  is  sufficient  recu- 
perative power  in  the  system,  these  diseases  will  be 
prevented  or  immediately  thrown  off. 

Accordingly  we  find  that  the  same  exposure  which 
will  produce  disease  in  one  person  will  be  entirely 
Iiarmless  in  another;  and  some  facts  have  recently 
come  to  light  which  go  to  corroborate  the  idea  that 
those  who  take  no  extra  carbonaceous  food  have  power 
not  only  to  resist  the  encroachments  of  disease,  but 
have  recuperative  powers  that  produce  wonderful  effects 
in  the  cure  of  disease  : so  that,  living  according  to  Na- 
ture’s laws,  we  may  not  only  hope  to  be  exempt  from 


862 


HEKNIA  CURED  BY  DIET. 


new  diseases,  but  may  also  get  rid  of  chronic  diseases 
and  infirmities  of  even  twenty-five  years’  standing. 

My  attention  was  first  called  to  this  fact  by  the  state- 
ment of  Banting,  the  fat  Englishman,  who  reduced  his 
weight  by  abstaining  from  carbonaceous,  and  eating 
freely  of  nitrogenous  and  phosphatic  food,  that  while 
living  on  this  diet,  a hernia,  for  which  he  had  worn  a 
truss  for  many  years,  was  almost  entirely  cured;  and 
during  the  last  year  a case  has  come  under  my  observa- 
tion still  more  remarkable.  A gentleman  who  has  been 
obliged  to  wear  a truss  for  inguinal  hernia  for  nearly 
twenty-five  years,  and  who  is  now  sixty-four  years  old, 
having  for  the  last  two  years  eaten  no  extra  carbo- 
naceous food,  has  been  gradually  recovering  from  the 
hernia,  and  now  for  some  months  has  left  off  his  truss 
entirely.  At  first  these  cures  seemed  to  me  almost 
miraculous  ; at  least  I could  see  no  connection  between 
the  cause  and  effect ; but  on  refiection,  I am  convinced 
that  the  explanation  is  this  : Hernia  is  caused  by  want 
of  tone  and  consequent  relaxation  of  the  abdominal 
muscles,  occasioned,  perhaps,  generally  by  want  of  suffi- 
cient nitrogenous  food.  The  tendons  are  not  drawn 
together  sufficiently  taut  at  the  ring  to  retain  perfectly 
the  flowing  and  slippery  intestines,  and  they  pass 
through ; but  by  leaving  off  extra  carbonates,  and  tak- 
ing instead  the  nitrogenous  food,  which  gives  strength 
to  muscles,  their  tone  is  restored,  the  tendons  are  drawn 
taut,  and  the  bowels  are  retained. 

The  following  case  of  family  idiosyncrasy  I think 
gives  some  light  on  the  influence  of  nitrogenous  food 


EFFECTS  OF  FOOD  TOO  NITROGENOUS.  363 

on  the  muscular  tissues  : A few  years  since,  a physi- 

cian in  Boston,  in  a good  but  not  harassing  practice, 
became  so  affected  by  disease  of  the  heart  that  for  a 
long  time  — I think  a year  — he  could  not  attend  to 
business,  and  at  times  was  brought  apparently  to  the 
point  of  death.  He  travelled  from  city  to  city,  con- 
sulting all  the  most  eminent  physicians  in  the  country, 
especially  such  as  made  heart  disease  a specialty. 
They  all  agreed  that  his  case  was  anomalous ; and 
inasmuch  as  his  father  and  one  brother  had  died  of  a 
similar  disease,  they  naturally  supposed  his  would  prove 
fatal  also.  But  he  recovered,  and  is  now  enjoying  good 
health  and  engaged  in  active  practice. 

Knowing  that  he  was  an  extravagant  eater  of  cheese, 
— the  most  concentrated  nitrogenous  food,  — and  also 
seeing  tlie  extraordinary  effects  of  such  food  in  the 
cases  just  referred  to,  and,  therefore,  suspecting  that 
cheese  might  have  had  something  to  do  with  the  case, 
I called  on  him,  and  obtained  the  following  facts  : — 

His  father  and  his  brother,  as  well  as  himself,  were 
all  extravagant  eaters  of  cheese  ; eating  it  at  all  times  in 
the  day,  and  in  great  quantities ; and  they  had,  of 
course,  great  powers  of  digestion  : for  a stomach  that 
('.an  digest  cheese  in  half-pound  quantities  can  digest 
anything.  And  the  old  gentleman  died  at  eighty-four, 
of  what  was  considered  organic  disease  of  the  heart, 
retaining  his  digestive  powers  to  the  last.  The  brother 
died  comparatively  young,  with  similar  symptoms  ; and 
the  doctor,  after  struggling  for  a long  time  with  similar 


364  EFFECTS  OF  FOOD  TOO  NITROGENOUS. 


eyniptoms,  seemed  to  be  approaching  a similar  end, 
when  he  gave  up  cheese  for  a time,  and  soon  began  to 
recover.  Since  then,  for  two  or  three  years,  having 
eaten  less  than  half  his  former  quantity  of  cheese, 
he  seems  perfectly  well. 

The  doctor’s  case  was  not,  of  course,  organic  disease, 
and  my  diagnosis  of  the  three  cases  is  this  : All  eating 

probably  two  or  three  times  more  nitrogenous  and  phos- 
phatic  food  than  was  necessary  to  supply  the  requisite 
muscular  and  nervous  power,  and,  as  in  the  cases  re- 
ferred to,  where  the  right  proportions  of  this  kind  of  food 
gave  new  tone  to  the  abdominal  muscles,  and  enabled 
them  to  overcome  a hernia  and  cure  it,  so  in  their 
cases,  excess  of  the  same  food  produced  an  excessive 
tone  and  tension  to  the  muscular  system,  and  the  heart, 
being  a muscular  organ,  the  action  of  which  must  be 
regular  and  not  excessive,  to  perform  its  functions  prop- 
erly, that  was  the  organ  on  which  this  excess  of  tone 
and  tension  most  clearly  manifested  itself,  and  the 
symptoms  were  precisely  such  as  might  have  been  ex- 
pected under  such  circumstances. 

The  circulation  was  very  rapid,  and  the  pulse  very 
full  and  irregular,  and  at  times,  for  eighteen  hours 
without  ceasing,  the  heart  would  beat  wdth  such  force 
as  to  jar  the  bed  on  which  the  doctor  lay,  and  then 
suddenly,  as  if  exhausted,  would  calm  dowm  as  if  to 
rest. 

AVith  recuperative  powers  such  as  is  induced  by  such 
food  and  such  powders  of  digestion.  Nature  holds  out 
wonderfully,  and  for  a whole  year  she  was  able  to  grap- 


EFFECTS  OF  FOOD  TOO  NITROOENOUS 


365 


pie  with  the  difficulty,  till  relief  finally  came  by  remov- 
ing the  cause  ; and  now,  if  he  will  allow  himself  to  take 
no  more  nitrogenous  food  than  is  necessary,  say  five 
ounces  in  a day,  his  chances  of  life  are  as  good  as  those 
of  any  other  man  in  the  same  circumstances  in  other 
respects. 

His  brother,  continuing  his  extra  nitrogenous  diet  to 
the  last,  and,  having  less  recuperative  power,  perhaps, 
succumbed  to  the  first  attack  in  two  or  three  weeks. 
His  father,  having  extraordinary  vital  energy,  endured 
the  strain  of  extra  nervous  and  muscular  power  to  a 
good  old  age,  but,  continuing  his  extraordinary  diet  to 
the  last,  he  yielded  also  to  the  first  attack. 

But  other  cases  show  more  directly  the  recuperative 
effect  of  natural  food.  A gentleman  of  scrofulous  ten- 
dencies, who  had  had  for  eight  or  ten  years  an  open 
abscess,  was  induced,  for  the  improvement  of  his  gen- 
eral health,  to  abstain  from  extra  carbon,  and  take  food 
rich  in  nitrogen  and  phosphorus,  and  almost  immediately 
the  abscess  began  to  heal,  and  in  a few  weeks  it  ceased 
to  discharge,  and  this  without  any  local  application  to  it. 

Another  gentleman  had  a kind  of  gouty  enlarge- 
ment of  the  great  toe  joints,  which  had  become  chronic, 
nnd  which  required  boots  of  extra  width  to  enable  him 
to  walk.  For  improvement  in  general  health,  he  also 
adopted  natural  food  exclusively,  and  in  a few  months 
i30uld  wear  narrow,  genteel  boots,  without  the  least  pain 
or  inconvenience. 

These  three  very  suggestive  cases  have  come  under 
my  observation  within  the  last  3^ear ; and  among  the 


366 


CHEONIO  DISEASES  CURED. 


large  number  who  have  already  adopted  practically 
''  the  Philosophy  of  Eating  ” (even  now  reckoned  by 
hundreds) , there  are  probably  other  cases  that  have  not 
been  brought  to  my  notice. 

These  cases,  though  not  sufficient  to  establish  an  im- 
portant theory,  at  least  give  us  reason  to  hope  for  more 
benefit  from  living  philosophically  than  I had  dared  to 
anticipate.  They  show  at  least  that,  to  some  extent,  al>- 
staining  from  extra  carbonaceous  food  and  using  instead 
that  which  is  nitrogenous  and  phosphatic,  the  system  has 
increased  power  not  only  to  resist  the  encroachments  of 
diseases,  but  also  to  overcome  and  cure  them. 

NOTE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION. 

Dec.  24,  1868. 

In  the  four  months  since  this  chapter  was  written,  I 
have  seen  cases,  showing  that  by  the  combined  influence 
of  nitrogenous  and  phosphatic  food  and  homoeopathic 
medicines,  scrofulous  ulcers,  tubercles,  and  ulceration  of 
the  lungs,  scrofulous  and  fatty  tumors,  can  be  cured ; 
and  in  one  case,  two  ovarian  tumors,  producing  enor- 
mous distension,  were  entirely  removed  in  two  months, 
leaving  the  patient  in  more  vigorous  health  than  she  had 
been  before  for  years. 


FOOD  FOK  SUMMER. 


367 


FOOD  FOR  SUMMER. 

In  warm  climates  Nature  provides  starch  and  sugar 
for  necessary  animal  heat,  not  fat;  and  gluten  and  albu- 
men for  muscular  power ; while  in  cold  climates  fat 
and  starch  are  the  carbonates.  Ripe  fruits  and  green 
vegetables  have  mostly  sugar  for  their  carbonates,  and 
gluten  and  albumen  for  their  nitrates.  Grains  and 
seeds  have  mostly  starch  for  carbonates,  and  gluten 
and  albumen  for  their  nitrates ; and  it  is  worthy  of 
notice  that  while  grain,  Especially  corn  growing  in  the 
Northern  States  and  Canada,  has  a large  share  of  oil, 
the  corn  of  Southern  states  has  not  a sixth  as  much. 

Animals,  also,  of  northern  climates,  eating  the  grain 
that  contains  fattening  oil,  have  much  more  adipose 
covering  to  their  flesh  than  the  same  species  in  southern 
climates.  These  are  clear  intimations  that  sugar  and 
starch  are  appropriate  principles  for  furnishing  animal 
heat  in  warm  weather,  and  fat  and  starch  in  cold 
weather. 

We  also  find  a larger  proportion  of  starch  in  wheat 
und  corn  (Southern  corn  having  but  half  the  starch  in 
proportion  to  gluten  as  Northern  corn),  and,  indeed,  in 
all  grains  in  northern  climates.  We  find,  also,. that  the 
warmer  the  climate  the  greater  the  abundance  of  sue- 


368 


FOOD  FOR  SUMMER. 


culent  vegetables  and  fruits,  whose  carbonates  consist  al- 
most entirely  of  sugar.  And  from  all  these  facts  we  are 
shown  that  vegetables,  grains,  and  fruits  are  intended  for 
warm  weather,  and  that  meats,  especially  fat  meats,  are 
better  adapted  to  cold  weather.  Fish,  however,  of  every 
climate,  furnislies  appropriate  food  for  that  climate 
tliose  of  Northern  w^aters  being  fatter  than  those  of 
Soutliern. 

A little  reflection  on  these  data  will  suggest  a bill  of 
fare  for  warm  weather,  consisting  of  the  grains  in  their 
natural  state,  — avoiding  Northern  corn  and  wheat,  — 
vegetables,  fruits  and  berries,  as  they  come  along,  the 
most  succulent  being  furnished  in  the  warmest  part  of 
the  season,  with  lean  meats  and  fish,  and  only  enough 
of  butter  or  fat  to  make  them  palatable,  avoiding, 
especially,  stimulating  condiments  and  concentrated 
combinations  of  heating  food,  as  pastry,  cakes,  flour 
puddings,  white  bread  and  butter,  &c.,  these  carbona- 
ceous articles  of  food  being  undoubtedly  a predisposing 
cause  of  the  dysenteries,  dyspepsias,  liver  and  bowel 
complaints,  that  are  so  prevalent  in  warm  weather. 

And  it  is  not  an  argument  against  this  theory  that 
nursing  children  are  as  liable  to  these  diseases  as  oth- 
ers ; for,  according  to  the  doctrine  I have  endeavored 
to  establish,  the  influence  of  carbonaceous  food  is  the 
Bame  on  the  nursing  child,  through  the  mother,  as  on 
the  weaned  child  directly.  Nor  is  it  an  argument 
against  the  free  use  of  fruits  and  vegetables,  that,  if 
taken  only  occasionally,  and  in  excess,  they  produce  or 
excite  these  very  diseases  ; for  it  is  true  in  this  case, 


FOOD  FOR  SUMMER. 


369 


as  in  every  other,  that  that  which  in  regular  use  and 
appropriate  quantities  is  wholesome,  in  irregular  use 
and  in  excess  is  the  source  of  suffering  and  disease. 
Besides,  if  children  were  constantly  supplied  with  fresh 
and  wholesome  fruits  and  vegetables,  they  would  neve? 
eat  them  in  excess. 

24 


870 


dyspepsia:  its  cause  ^nd  ouee. 


PREVENTION  AND  CURE  OF  DYSPEPSIA. 

The  grand  port  of  entry  for  the  human  system  is  the 
stomach,  and  the  senses  of  taste  and  smell  are  placed, 
as  sentinels,  to  guard  its  portals ; and,  if  not  tampered 
with  and  demoralized,  they  would  not,  under  any  pre- 
tence, allow  a particle  of  matter,  solid  or  liquid,  to 
enter  it,  except  food  as  organized  and  prepared  in 
Nature’s  own  laboratory,  and  drinks  composed  of  milk, 
the  juices  of  fruits  and  plants,  and  pure  water ; and 
these  would  only  be  admitted  as  they  are  needed  to 
supply  the  necessary  elements  as  fast  as  they  are  used 
up  and  cast  off  from  the  system. 

All  animals  in  their  natural  state  range  at  large  in 
the  sphere  assigned  them,  and  have  access  to  every- 
thing, good  and  bad;  but  their  appetites  and  tastes, 
as  sentinels  and  guardian  angels,  allow  not  a particle 
that  would  be  injurious  to  enter  the  stomach.  Though 
there  might  be  found  in  the  same  field,  and  even  in  the 
same  plant,  the  natural  food  and  the  deadly  poison, 
they  are  directed,  with  unerring  certainty,  to  take  such 
food  as  contains  the  elements  required  to  keep  them  in 
health,  and  to  reject  everything  that  would  be  injuri- 
ous. Having,  therefore,  all  that  is  requisite  to  keep 
the  stomach  and  dio^estive  or^rans  in  health,  and  noth- 
Ing  to  disturb  their  secretions  and  functions,  they  never 


DYSPEPSIA  : ITS  C.iL'SE  AND  CURE. 


371 


have  dyspepsia,  or  any  other  disease,  except  such  as 
are  induced  by  accident. 

Does  any  one  doubt  that  man  would  be  as  perfectly 
exempt  from  dyspepsia,  and,  indeed,  from  all  other 
diseases,  if  he  lived  as  entirely  on  natural  food,  and 
obe}'cd  as  perfectly  all  the  laws  of  his  nature?  To 
believe  otherwise  is  to  believe  that  our  Maker  has 
taken  less  care  of  his  most  perfect  work  than  of  his 
inferior  productions.  Do  you  say  that  man  has  less 
power  to  discriminate  between  the  good  and  the  bad 
because  his  senses  of  smell  and  taste  are  less  acute? 
That  may  be  true ; but  are  not  his  intellect  and  reason 
more  than  an  equivalent  for  any  deficiency  in  his  ani- 
mal senses?  Our  senses  of  smell  and  taste  are,  how- 
ever, sufficiently  acute  to  guide  us,  if  unperverted  by 
the  use  of  food  out  of  which  has  been  taken  some  of 
its  essential  elements,  and  by  poisonous  articles.  And, 
as  it  is,  they  are  faithful  sentinels  still,  as  far  as  they 
are  allowed  to  be,  and  admit  no  food  in  its  natural 
condition  but  at  the  right  time  and  in  right  quantities  ; 
so  that,  in  regard  to  tlie  grains,  meats,  milk,  vegeta- 
bles, and  fruits,  in  their  natural  state,  if  we  ate  noth- 
ing else,  we  might  eat  as  much  of  them  as  the  appetite 
demanded,  without  injury. 

But  a faithful  sentinel  might  admit  to  the  gairison  one 
who  might  prove  to  be  the  vilest  traitor  or  spy ; and 
though,  at  first,  he  might  be  suspicious  of  him,  might, 
after  a while,  come  to  like  him,  and  treat  him  with 
kindness,  if,  at  first,  he  had  been  ordered  to  admit  him 
by  a superior  officer ; — so  these  sentinels  of  the  stom- 


572 


dyspepsia:  its  cause  and  cure. 


ach  admit,  and  come  to  have  confidence  in,  and  even 
ardently  love,  not  only  butter,  sugar,  starch,  fat,  and 
other  articles  which  are  injurious,  in  that  unnatural, 
concentrated  state  in  which  we  use  them,  but  even  the 
vilest  weeds  and  compounds  containing  the  most  poi- 
sonous principles,  as  iv^bacco,  alcoholic  drinks,  opium, 
hashish,  &c.  Under  these  circumstances,  it  may  be 
questioned  whether,  with  these  perverted  appetites  and 
tastes,  it  is  possible  to  return  to  natural  food  alone,  so 
as  to  bring  back  the  system  to  its  normal  condition, 
and  make  it  exempt  from  the  diseases  and  suffering  to 
which  it  is  thus  made  liable. 

Whether  or  not  it  is  possible  to  restore  a degenerate 
and  diseased  body  to  a state  of  perfect  health,  one  thing 
is  encouraging  : — we  find,  by  the  testimony  of  all  who 
resolve  to  live  as  nearly  right  as  possible,  that  they 
succeed  in  improving  their  condition  far  beyond  their 
expectations,  and  that  just  in  proportion  as  they  ap- 
proximate to  Nature’s  standard  is  their  approximation 
to  health,  as  also  to  the  enjoyments  of  eating ; and  in 
just  the  proportion  as  they  eat  natural  food,  properly 
cooked,  and  allow  nothing  else  to  enter  the  stomach, 
are  they  free  from  dyspepsia,  and  the  thousand  and  one 
pains  and  ills  that  are  connected  with  it. 

Animals  in  their  natural  state  never  suffer  from 
dyspepsia,  because,  from  the  day  of  their  birth  till 
the  day  of  their  death,  being  left  free  to  follow  their 
natural  appetites  and  tastes,  they  never  take  into  their 
stomachs  a particle  of  matter,  solid  or  liquid,  but  natu- 
ral food  and  pure  water ; but  the  appetites  and  tastes 


dyspepsia:  its  prevention  and  cure.  373 


of  children  are  not  left  unperverted  for  a single  day,  — 
"they  go  astray  as  soon  as  they  be  born,”  — and  that 
child  is  a lucky  exception  who  escapes  unnatural  food 
for  the  first  six  hours  of  life  : as  if  Nature  was  so  at 
fault  as  not  to  provide  nourishment  as  soon  as  it  is 
needed.  As  a natural  consequence,  the  symptoms  of 
dyspepsia,  such  as  flatulence,  colic,  &c.,  commence 
on  the  first  day  of  life ; and  then  come  the  catnip 
and  camomile  teas,  to  relieve  the  flatulence  and  pains 
induced  by  the  sugar,  which  are  sure  to  induce  other 
pains  worse  and  more  enduring;  and  thus,  on  the  first 
day  of  life  is  inaugurated,  not  only  dyspepsia,  but, 
at  the  same  time,  a system  of  treatment  which  per- 
petuates all  manner  of  diseases  and  sufferings  to  the 
end  of  life,  and  which  diminishes  the  average  length 
of  life  from  " threescore  years  and  ten  ” to  from  thirty 
to  thirty-three  years.  And  the  foundation  for  these 
evils  is  also  laid  during  the  period  of  nursing,  and  even 
before  birth,  as  I have  before  explained,  by  the  neglect 
of  the  mother  to  furnish  elements  for  a perfect  organi- 
zation, and  by  furnishing,  instead,  elements  which,  not 
being  needed,  are  injurious. 

And  having,  in  such  culpable  ignorance,  laid  the 
foundation,  and  inaugurated  a system,  and  formed  ap- 
petites for  unnatural  food,  by  which  these  diseases  and 
sufferings  are  so  early  commenced,  we,  of  course,  fol- 
low on,  thoughtlessly,  in  the  way  in  which  our  parents 
have  started  us,  in  the  use  of  heating  food  and  delete- 
rious drugs,  till  we  inevitably  fall  a prey  to  the  dis- 
eases which  are  thus  induced  and  perpetuated.  And, 


3T4  DYSPEPSIA  : ITS  PREVENTION  AND  CURE. 


to  every  reflecting  mind,  the  wonder  is,  not  that  so 
many  are  troubled  with  dyspepsia,  but  rather  that  any 
escape. 

The  Process  of  Digestion. 

The  most  important  agents  in  the  process  of  digestion 
are  the  juices  of  the  mouth,  the  stomach,  the  liver,  and 
pancreas  — the  gastric  juice  being  the  most  important, 
the  others  being  only  auxiliary.  These  juices  are 
changed  day  by  day,  in  certain  qualities,  so  as  to  be 
adapted  to  the  digestion  of  different  kinds  of  food,  and, 
like  muscles  which  have  regular  duties  to  perform, 
have  power  given  them  according  to  the  duties  re- 
quired. If  we  live  on  food  requiring  little  power  of 
digestion,  like  rice,  fine  flour,  fresh  fish,  soups,  &c., 
the  powers  of  digestion  will,  after  a while,  become  so 
enfeebled  that,  if  suddenly  we  take  solid  meat,  cheese, 
&c.,  suitable  juices  not  being,  at  first,  furnished,  indi- 
gestion, or  temporary  dyspepsia,  follows  ; but  continue 
the  use  of  these  articles,  and  the  appropriate  juices  will 
be  furnished,  and  the  powers  of  digestion  will  rally  and 
perform  the  task  assigned  them.  It  is  a mistake  to 
suppose  that  the  most  digestible  food  is  best  for  those 
who  are  predisposed  to  dyspepsia;  on  the  other  hand, 
the  powers  of  the  stomach  are  capable  of  cultivation, 
and  bc?/Ome  strong  or  weak  according  to  the  regular 
work  imposed  on  them  to  do,  just  as  the  muscles  be- 
come strong  or  weak  as  they  are  or  are  not  actively 
used.  But  in  the  one  case,  as  in  the  other,  strength 
can  be  imparted  only  by  regular  and  gradually  in- 


DYSPEPSIA  : ITS  PREVENTION  AND  CURE.  375 


creasing  exercise.  Perhaps,  for  example,  there  is  not 
one  stomach  in  twenty  which,  after  a lengthy  absti 
nence  from  it,  could  readily  digest  cheese ; and  yet 
there  is  not  one  stomach  in  a thousand  that  could  not 
be  made  to  digest  it  readily,  by  beginning  its  use  in 
small  quantities  early  in  the  day,  and  increasing  the 
quantity  daily ; and  thus  we  may  teach  the  stomach, 
as  we  may  teach  the  muscles,  to  perform  any  reasona- 
ble task  regularly  imposed  on  it.  This  is  an  important 
consideration,  both  as  a means  of  preventing  and  curing 
dyspepsia. 

Another  important  consideration  relates  to  the  prin- 
ciple which  gives  relish  to  food,  called  osmazome  — a 
principle  without  which  the  digestive  juices  are  not 
secreted,  and  without  which  digestion  cannot  go  on 
at  all.  This  is  proved  by  the  experiment  already  re- 
ferred to,  in  which  the  dog,  shut  up  with  meat  having 
all  its  elements  preserved  but  the  flavor,  would  not  eat 
it,  because  it  could  not  be  digested,  although  he  was 
starving.  Our  own  experience  also  shows  us  how 
much  our  digestion  depends  on  the  relish  with  which 
it  is  taken.  And  we  are  thus  taught  that  it  is  our 
bounden  duty  to  enjoy  eating  as  it  is  our  duty  to  enjoy 
life.  But  we  find  in  the  one  case,  as  in  the  other,  that 
true  enjoyment  comes  only  in  connection  with  obedience 
to  the  laws  of  our  being ; so  that  they  enjoy  most  who 
only  study  to  know  what  is  duty,  w^hile  they  enjoy  least 
who  only  seek  after  enjoyment  in  eating,  and  most  as- 
siduously inquire  what  can  be  had  that  is  good  to  eat. 

So  also  in  the  one  case,  as  in  the  other,  the  pleasures 


376 


IMPOKTANCE  OF  RELISHING  FOOD. 


vphich  we  do  enjoy,  in  the  unnatural  excitements  of 
excess,  are  fraught  with  evil  consequences,  and  pro- 
duce subsequent  reaction,  depression,  exhaustion,  or 
Buffering  — as,  in  the  other  case,  the  pleasures  derived 
from  the  taste  of  sugar,  butter,  flour,  and  their  combi- 
nations, give  us,  in  just  the  proportion  as  their  flavor 
.B  excessive  and  unnatural,  subsequent  gastric  exhaus- 
tion, debility,  disease,  and  pain. 

Tc  get,  then,  all  the  gustatory  enjoyment  we  are 
capable  of  receiving,  we  have  but  to  take,  every  day, 
the  kind  and  variety  of  food  best  suited  to  the  condition 
and  duties  of  the  body  for  that  day  — so  kind  is  our 
heavenly  Father,  in  providing  that,  in  keeping  his  com- 
mandments, physical  and  moral,  there  is  always  great 
reward,  and  in  thus  making  it  promote  our  highest 
happiness  to  do  right.  But  some  one  may  say,  "I 
am  so  wedded  to  my  butter,  and  sugar,  and  pastry, 
and  cakes,  and  they  have  so  become  second  nature, 
that  I cannot  do  without  them.”  Well,  if  you  cannot 
make  the  sacrifice  of  a radical  reform,  try  a partial 
course,  and  you  shall  find  a reward  even  in  that. 
Take,  for  example,  good,  clear,  light-colored  wheat, 
and  have  it  well  ground,  and  kept  in  a close,  tight 
cask,  so  that  there  shall  be  no  need  of  sifting,  and 
make  from  it  unleavened  bread,  according  to  rule 
already  given  (page  45),  or  from  good  sweet  yeast, 
and  not  eaten  till  it  has  been  for  some  hours  in  pure 
air,  to  exchange  its  carbonic  acid  gas  for  oxygen, 
and  use  that,  or  rye  and  Indian,  entirely,  and  a laige 
majority  will  prefer  it,  at  first,  to  fine  white  bread 


DYSPEPSIA  : ITS  PREVENTION  AND  CURE.  377 


and  though,  at  first,  being  harder  of  digestion,  it  may 
cause  flatulence,  yet,  follow  the  rule  for  teaching  the 
stomach  to  do  its  duty,  and  you  will  soon  be  rewarded 
in  improved  digestion  and  improved  health.  But  in 
confirmed  dyspepsia  a more  radical  course  will  be 
needed ; and  in  just  the  proportion  as  you  return  to 
natural  food  will  be  your  enjoyment  of  digestion,  your 
(Veedom  from  flatulence  and  colic  pains,  and  you  will 
find  yourself  able  to  do  cheerfully  all  the  duties  of  life. 
Hundreds  have  tried  it,  and  this  is  their  unanimous 
testimony ; and  if  there  are  exceptions,  they  are  only 
apparent,  and  are  dependent  on  want  of  perseverance 
sufficient  to  overcome  the  effects  of  long-continued 
perversion  of  the  digestive  powers.  At  any  time,  be- 
fore there  is  actual  disorganization  of  some  organs 
connected  with  digestion,  which,  from  continued  trans- 
gressions, will  sometimes  occur,  a radical  change,  and 
conformity  to  Nature’s  laws,  not  only  regarding  food, 
but  air,  exercise,  friction  of  the  skin,  &c.,  will  effect 
a radical  cure.  (For  other  important  considerations 
relating  to  digestion,  see  chapter  on  Leanness.) 


878 


ERROR  OF  VEGETARIANS. 


IS  ANIMAL  FOOD  ALWAYS  INJURIOUS? 

In  the  first  place,  it  seems  to  me  perfectly  unreason- 
able that  God,  in  blessing  Noah  after  the  flood  for  his 
faithfulness,  should  give  him  control  of  ” every  beast  of 
the  earth,  and  every  fowl  of  the  air,  and  all  that  moveth 
upon  the  earth,  and  the  fishes  of  the  sea ; ” and  should 
tell  him  that  ” every  moving  thing  that  liveth  shall  be 
meat  for  you,  even  as  the  green  herb ; ” and  should 
cause  to  be  deposited  in  all  these  living  creatures  the 
same  elements,  in  the  same  combinations  as  are  wanted 
in  the  human  system,  and  as  are  found  in  the  ''  green 
herb,”  or  vegetable  food,  and  should,  at  the  same  time, 
make  one  class  to  be  appropriate  food  and  the  other 
injurious. 

That  each  class  of  food  does  contain  the  same  ele- 
ments, in  the  same  combinations,  and  nearly  the  same 
proportions,  has  been  seen.  Take  two  articles  — beef 
and  wheat,  for  example.  Beef  contains  of  carbonaceous 
food  thirty  per  cent.,  nitrogenous  sixteen,  phosphatic 
five,  and  water  fifty.  Wheat  contains  of  carbonaceous 
food  seventy  per  cent.,  nitrogenous  fifteen,  phosphatic 
two,  and  water  fourteen.  Now,  considering  that  thirty 
per  cent,  of  fat  is  equal  to  two  and  a half  times  as  much 
starch,  in  heating  power,  or  seventy-five  to  that  of 


ANIMAL  AND  VEGICTABLE  FOOD  ALIKE. 


6 79 


vs^heat  at  seventy,  these  two  articles,  the  beef  being  of 
average  fatness,  in  strengthening  and  heating  qualities 
are  nearly  alike ; but  the  beef  has  more  than  twice  the 
nerve  and  brain  food  as  the  wheat. 

In  this  last  respect,  however,  beef  and  wheat  differ 
less  from  each  other  than  some  other  articles  entirely 
vegetable.  For  example:  Northern  corn  contains  but 
one  per  cent,  of  nerve  and  brain  food,  while  beans  con- 
tain three  and  a half  per  cent.,  and  Southern  corn  four. 
Where,  then,  is  evidence,  in  chemical  structure  of  ani- 
mal, as  compared  with  vegetable  food,  to  show  that  the 
one  is  wholesome  and  the  other  injurious?  And  then 
as  to  the  practical  results  of  living  exclusively  on  ani- 
mal or  vegetable  food  — where  is  found  the  proof  of 
the  advantages  of  the  one  over  the  other,  either  in  the 
perfection  and  size  of  the  body  or  in  the  vigor  or  length 
of  life  which  they  impart? 

The  l^atagonian  is  the  largest,  and,  perhaps,  the 
most  vigorous  race  of  men,  and  they  live  almost  ex- 
clusively on  animal  food,  while  the  vegetable-eating 
Hindoo  is  a race  among  the  most  inferior.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  vegetable,  and  milk  and  cheese-eating 
Bushmen  are  well  formed,  athletic,  and  vigorous,  while 
the  meat-eating  Esquimaux  are  an  inferior  race  of 
men. 

And  then  statistics,  while  they  prove,  as  I have 
shown  in  another  chapter,  that  length  of  life,  as  well 
as  health  and  happiness,  depends  on  the  free  but  tem- 
perate use  of  the  good  things  that  Nature  has  furnished, 
both  of  food  and  remedial  agents,  and  on  rejecting 


380 


ANIMAL  AND  VEGETABLE  FOOD  ALIKE. 


everything  injurious  in  food,  drink,  medicine,  or  air, 
give  not  an  item  of  proof  that  vegetarians  live  a day 
longer,  or  have  less  sickness  or  pain,  than  those  who 
eat  meat,  but  who  live,  in  other  respects,  as  temperately 
and  carefully  as  their  vegetarian  friends.  Nor  has  such 
proof  been  furnished  from  any  other  source. 


CONSUMPTION  OF  THE  BLOOD. 


381 


CONSUMPTION  OF  THE  BLOOD. 

That  peculiar  greenish  or  ash-colored  appearance 
which  is  seen  in  our  feeble,  undeveloped  daughters, 
and  which  indicates  the  disease  called  chlorosis,  from 
the  color  of  the  skin,  — being  a watery  state  of  the 
blood,  — is  supposed  to  be  caused  by  want  of  iron  in 
the  system ; and  hence  such  girls  are  always  found 
taking  iron,  in  pills,  or  drops,  or  in  some  other  crude 
preparation,  with  the  vain  hope  of  thus  restoring  iron 
to  the  blood.  And  as,  for  a while,  the  appetite  is 
improved,  and  the  strength  apparently  increased,  the 
remedy  is  continued ; but  the  improvement  is  deceptive, 
and  never,  according  to  my  experience  and  observation, 
effects  a permanent  cure.  And  this  opinion  is  con- 
firmed by  the  highest  medical  authority,  as  I have 
quoted  before. 

One  sentence  from  Trousseau  is  so  important  in  this 
connection,  that  I will  repeat  it  here,  there  being  no 
higher  authority  on  this  or  any  other  medical  subject. 
As  quoted  by  J.  Francis  Churchill,  a celebrated  French 
physician,  who  confirms  the  statement,  ” M.  Trousseau 
declares  that  iron,  in  any  form,  given  in  chlorotic  affec- 
tions, to  patients  in  whom  consumptive  diathesis  exists, 
invariably  fixes  the  diathesis,  and  hastens  the  develop- 
ment of  tubercles.  The  iron  may  induce  a factitious 


382 


CONSUMPTION  OF  THE  BLOOD. 


return  to  health ; the  physician  may  flatter  himself  that 
he  has  corrected  the  chlorotic  condition  of  his  patient ; 
but,  to  his  surprise,  he  will  find  the  patient  soon  after 
fall  into  a phthisical  state,  from  which  there  is  no  re-- 
turn.  This  result,  or  at  least  its  hastening,  M.  Trous- 
seau attributes  to  the  iron.  The  assertion  is  a most 
startling  one.  M.  Trousseau  is  nevertheless  so  certain 
of  what  he  says,  that  he  denounces  the  administration 
of  iron  in  chlorosis  as  criminal  in  the  highest  degree. 

No  attempt  has  ever  been  made,  to  my  knowledge, 
to  refute  the  opinions  of  these  two  celebrated  physi- 
cians, and  it  corroborates  the  doctrine  that  I have  else- 
where endeavored  to  establish,  that  no  elements  are 
allowed  to  be  incorporated  into  and  become  a part  of  the 
blood,  in  any  organ  or  tissue,  that  are  not  fitted  for  diges- 
tion in  some  vegetable,”  but  that,  on  the  other  hand, 
they  become  poisonous  or  injurious  to  the  system.  And 
yet,  if  you  ask  the  first  ten  green  or  ash-colored  girls 
you  shall  meet,  what  they  are  taking  as  medicine,  nine 
will  probably  tell  you  — iron. 

And  the  most  of  them,  if  they  have  taken  it  but  a 
short  time,  will  declare  they  feel  better  for  it.  And 
this  is  accounted  for  on  the  same  principle  that  alcohol, 
another  article  composed  of  disorganized  elements,  de- 
ceives the  feeble  patients  who  take  it,  by  making  them 
at  first  feel  better,  but  afterwards,  as  the  stimulus  loses 
its  power,  depressing  them  in  the  same  proportion  as  they 
had  been  stimulated.  Iron,  however,  is  a slower  and 
more  permanent  stimulant,  and  therefore  more  decep* 


CAUSE  OF  CONSUMPTION  OF  THE  BLOOD.  383 


tive.  For  a time,  however,  like  alcohol,  it  increases 
the  powers  of  digestion,  and  causes,  perhaps,  iron  to 
be  appropriated  from  the  food ; for  sometimes  the  color' 
of  the  cheeks  and  the  blood  return,  and  it  apparently 
becomes  thicker  and  better ; but  that  the  strength  and 
color  of  the  blood  in  that  case  are  produced  by  the  stim- 
ulant, and  not  from  the  iron  directly,  is  proved  by  the 
fact  that  alcohol,  and  phosphorus,  and  some  other  stim- 
ulants, will  do  the  same  thing,  and  even  quicker  than 
iron.  In  all  cases,  however,  these  stimulants  leave  the 
system  more  depressed  at  last,  and  thus  hasten  the  de- 
velopment of  incurable  consumption,  either  of  the  lungs 
or  bowels. 

What  is  the  Cause  of  Chlorosis? 

I have  investigated  scores  of  cases,  and  found  their 
history  to  be  uniformly  the  same.  From  the  time  of 
its  birth,  and  months  before,  till  the  child  was  weaned, 
the  mother  had  lived  on  food  which  contained  very  little 
iron,  or  any  of  the  elements  of  which  its  tissues  or  blood 
is  composed. 

Butter  contains  not  a particle  of  iron,  sugar  none, 
and  superfine  flour  very  little.  I have  found  many  a 
young  mother  whose  principal  food  consisted  mostly  of 
white  bread  and  butter,  cakes,  pastry,  confectionery, 
and  coffee  and  tea,  neither  of  which,  nor  all  together, 
would  contain,  in  all  she  could  eat,  of  iron,  phosphorus, 
nitrogen,  or  lime,  sufficient  to  make  blood,  bones,  or 
muscles  in  good  condition  for  the  child  alone,  while  her 
own  system  would  be  left  unsupplied. 


384 


THE  CAUSE  OF  CHLOROSIS. 


It  is  a curious  physiological  fact,  that  in  such  cases 
Nature  provides  first  for  the  child,  and  if  the  expectant 
mother  fails  to  supply  elements  sufficient  for  both  her- 
self and  the  child,  the  child  will  be  first  supplied  at  the 
expense  of  the  mother ; and  we  often  see  white  bread 
and  butter,  and  cake  and  pastry-eating  mothers  pale 
and  feeble,  and  suffering  intensely  from  defective  teeth 
and  neuralgia,  for  want  of  iron,  phosphorus,  nitrogen, 
and  lime,  while  the  infant  may  be  born  in  a condition 
comparatively  well  developed  and  healthy. 

And  then  in  nursing,  though  the  child  gets  the  best 
of  the  elements  furnished,  still  it  can  never  get  good 
blood  from  such  food  as  does  not  contain  the  elements 
of  good  blood ; and  when  it  is  weaned,  its  food  will 
probably  be  of  the  same  kind  as  that  on  which  its 
mother  lives.  And  thus  if  it  lives  at  all,  it  will  grow 
up  feeble  in  muscle,  for  want  of  nitrogen  ; defective  in 
teeth,  for  want  of  lime  ; neuralgic,  nervous,  and  hyster- 
ical, or  perhaps  stupid,  for  want  of  phosphorus  ; and 
pale  and  ash-colored,  for  want  of  iron.  Such  are  the 
girls  who  have  a morbid,  indefinite  craving  for  some- 
thing, they  know  not  what,  and  therefore  add  to  their 
troubles  by  eating  such  unnatural  and  abominable  things 
as  chalk,  slate  pencils,  magnesia,  pickled  limes,  &c., 
their  systems  being  deficient  in  important  health-giving 
elements. 

I once  made  a post-mortem  examination  in  case  of  a 
chlorotic  young  lady,  who  died  after  intense  and  long- 
continued  sufferings,  the  cause  of  which  could  not  be 
ascertained  while  living ; and  we  found  a ball  of  mag- 


RATIONAL  CURE  OF  CHLOROSIS. 


385 


nesia  that  weighed  a pound,  and  other  smaller  ones, 
embedded  in  the  intestines,  obstructing  the  passage,  and 
finally  stopping  it  altogether.  And  there  are  numerous 
records  of  similar  cases.  And  if  they  do  not  thus  ac- 
cumulate, all  unnatural  or  undigested  articles  in  passing 
off  must  produce  irritation,  and  tend  to  develop  tuber- 
cles of  the  bowels  and  other  diseases.  Having,  then,  the 
cause  of  this  disease,  or  at  least  the  foundation  of  what 
is  called  consumption  of  the  blood  or  bowels,  as  well 
as  consumption  of  the  lungs,  to  which  so  many  of  our 
daughters  are  sacrificed,  it  is  certainly  an  important 
inquiry.  What  will  cure  this  terrible  malady? 

What  is  the  rational  Mode  of  curing  Chlorosis? 

If  my  position  is  true,  that  chlorosis  is  simply  the 
want  of  iron  and  other  necessary  elements  in  the  blood, 
and  if  it  be  also  true,  as  I have  elsewhere  shown,  that 
these  elements  are  all  furnished  and  at  hand  in  every 
herb  bearing  seed,  which  is  upon  the  face  of  all  the 
earth,  and  every  tree  in  the  which  is  the  fruit  of  a tree 
yielding  seed,”  and  also  in  the  flesh  of  " every  beast  of 
the  earth,  and  every  fowl  of  the  air,  and  everything 
that  creepeth  upon  the  earth  wherein  there  is  life,” 
which,  having  obtained  in  their  flesh  the  elements  as 
organized  in  the  herb,  and  the  seed,  &c.,  and  being 
thus  fitted  to  be  food  for  man,  were  given  to  Noah 
and  his  posterity  as  a blessing,  for  food,  ''  even  as  the 
green  herb ; ” and  if  it  be  also  true,  as  I think  I 


386 


RATIONAL  CURE  OF  CHLOROSIS. 


have  shown,  that  neither  iron,  nor  any  other  element 
not  thus  organized,  can  be  assimilated  as  an  element 
of  the  blood,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  is  interdicted  as 
poisonous,  — then  surely  the  rational  mode  of  cure  is 
clearly  pointed  out.  We  have  but  to  take  food  freely 
which  is  known  to  contain  iron  and  other  elements  as 
they  are  needed. 

But  how  can  we  ascertain  whether  any  Elements  are 
wanted  to  make  the  Blood  pure  in  any  given  Case, 
or,  if  so,  what  are  the  deficient  Elements  of  the 
Blood  ? 

Why  not  use  common  sense,  as  our  mechanics  and 
chemists  use  it  in  their  every-day  operations  ? Suppose 
an  intelligent  soap-maker  should  find  that  a lot  of  soap, 
which  a blundering  man  had  attempted  to  make,  was 
good  for  nothing  because  the  necessary  elements  were 
not  mixed  in  the  right  proportions,  — how  would  he 
ascertain  what  was  wanted  to  make  good  soap  of  it? 
Knowing  just  how  much  alkali  and  how  much  oil  or 
grease  were  necessary  for  the  quantity  before  him,  he 
would  ascertain  how  much  of  each  had  been  used  ; and 
.f  a pound  of  potash  was  wanting,  would  add  it  to  the 
mixture  ; and  if  other  necessary  conditions  were  com- 
plied with,  he  would  be  sure  of  good  soap.  But  sup- 
pose he  should  not  know  what  was  needed,  and  should 
add  at  hazard  a pound  of  grease  instead,  would  he 
get  good  soap? 

Upon  the  same  principle,  if  we  see  a feeble,  sickly, 


RATIONAL  CURE  OF  CHLOROISIS. 


387 


undeveloped  girl,  without  disease  of  any  particulaf 
organ,  we  know  that  something  must  be  wanting  in  the 
blood;  and  what  that  something  is,  we  can  know  by 
ascertaining  what  she  has  omitted  to  supply.  If  she 
has  lived  principally  on  superfine  flour  bread  and  butter, 
or  cakes  and  confectionery,  or  any  other  food  of  which 
starch,  butter,  or  sugar  is  the  predominant  principle, 
we  know  that  she  has  omitted  to  supply  her  blood  with 
iron,  nitrogen,  phosphorus,  lime,  &c.,  as  these  articles 
of  food  do  not  contain"  these  elements.  What,  then, 
does  common  sense  dictate,  in  such  a case,  but  to  omit 
such  articles  of  food,  and  take  instead  such  food  as  is 
known  to  contain  these  deficient  elements?  Just  as,  in 
the  supposed  soap  case,  the  intelligent  soap-maker  omit- 
ted the  grease  and  added  alkali. 

A woman  in  the  ccTuntry  once  gave  me  an  account  of 
what  she  called  her  bad  luck  in  attempting  to  make  soft 
soap.  She  put  together,  as  she  thought  according  to 
rule,  her  grease  and  lye,  and  boiled  them,  and  added 
the  right  quantity  of  water,  and  stirred  it ; but  the  soap 
" wouldn’t  come ; ” and  not  knowing  what  was  the 
trouble,  she  asked  a neighbor,  who  told  her  she  had 
heard  that  salt  was  good,  and  advised  her  to  add  a pint 
of  salt,  and  stir  it  all  day.  She  followed  the  advice, 
and  still  it  wouldn’t  come. 

• She  consulted  another  neighbor,  who  told  her,  the 
trouble  w’^as,  that  she  stirred  it  a part  of  the  time  one 
way  and  a part  of  the  time  the  other,  and  thus  undid 
at  one  time  what  she  did  at  another  : she  must  stir  it 
always  with  the  sun,  and  that  would  certainly  fetch  it. 


388 


CAUSE  AND  CURE  OF  CHLOROSIS. 


''  She  sthred  it,  and  stirred  it ; but  the  more  she  stirred 
it  the  more  it  wouldn’t  come.”  Finally  she  consulted 
a very  old  and  experienced  housekeeper,  who  assured 
her  it  would  come  if  she  stirred  it  when  the  sign  was 
right.  She  must  get  old  Isaiah  Thomas’s  Almanac, 
and  look  up  the  signs  of  the  zodiac,  and  when  the  sign 
was  right  she  must  stir  as  before  directed,  vigorously, 
with  the  sun,  and  her  trouble  would  soon  be  over.  She 
followed  advice,  but  after  all  lost  her  soap. 

Now,  absurd  and  ridiculous ' as  were  these  whims  of 
the  grandmothers  of  the  past  generation  in  regard  to 
the  making  of  soap,  they  were  not  a whit  more  absurd 
or  ridiculous  than  those  of  the  mothers  of  the  present 
in  regard  to  the  treatment  of  what  are  called  humors, 
or  impurities  of  the  blood,  especially  of  that  condition 
of  whichuwe  are  now  treating,  and  from  which  so  many 
of  our  daughters  are  lost.  Indeed,  that  mother  is  a 
rare  exception  who,  after  iron  has  failed,  does  not 
resort  to  beer,  or  wine,  or  oxygenated  bitters,  or  some 
medical  discoveries,  or  something  else  which  some 
neighbor  or  quack  doctor  shall  tell  her  is  good  for  the 
blood,  although  not  one  of  them  all  has  more  power  to 
cure  chlorosis,  or  to  purify  the  blood,  than  the  signs  of 
the  zodiac  have  power  to  make  soap ; but  they  have 
more  power  to  do  harm,  and  that  harm  is  incalculably 
mor^  important.  And  yet,  to  carry  out  the  illustration, 
it  is  no  more  certain  that  good  soap  can  be  made  with- 
out failure  by  using  the  right  materials  in  the  right 
way,  than  it  is  certain  that  pure  blood  can  be  made  by 
the  right  use  of  the  elements  which  constitute  good 
blood. 


CAUSE  AND  CURE  OF  CHLOROSIS. 


38S 


But  what  kinds  of  food  contain  iron  ? Analyses  of 
different  articles  have  not  yet  been  made  to  determine 
the  proportion  of  iron  which  each  article  contains ; but 
a general  statement  will  be  sufficient  for  all  practical 
purposes.  The  flesh  of  all  animals  contains  iron,  and 
of  course  milk,  grains,  fruits,  and  vegetables,  which 
make  the  muscle  or  flesh  of  animals,  contain  it. 

Iron,  phosphorus,  lime,  and  all  other  mineral  ele- 
ments, are  connected  together  with  nitrogen,  for  mak- 
ing muscles  and  blood,  but  not  one  is  found  connected 
with  carbon,  which  furnishes  fat  and  heat,  so  that  those 
articles  of  food  which  are  found  in  the  tables  to  con- 
tain the  most  nitrogenous  and  phosphatic  elements  gen- 
erally contain  most  iron. 

To  prevent  chlorosis,  therefore,  mothers  have  only  to 
see  that  their  daughters  always  live  on  food  containing 
all  its  natural  elements ; and  to  cure  it,  they  have  but 
to  select  the  articles  of  natural  food  which  contain  most 
phosphatic  elements. 


390 


FOOD  AS  AFFECTING  NERV  'US  DISEASES. 


HOW  TO  PREVENT  APOPLEXY,  NEURAL- 
GIA, AND  NERVOUS  DISEASES. 

By  analysis  the  brain  and  nerves  are  found  to  be 
composed  of  albumen,  a fatty  substance  called  cerebral 
fat,  phosphorus,  mineral  salts  and  water ; and  that  the 
mature,  healthy,  adult  brain  contains  more  albumen, 
more  phosphorus,  and  more  mineral  salts,  but  less 
cerebral  fat,  and  less  water  than  the  brain  of  infants 
or  idiots. 

The  elements  that  are  thus  shown  to  be  needed  are 
found  in  all  natural  food,  combined  with  nitrogenous, 
or  muscle-making  principles,  but  not  with  the  car- 
bonaceous, or  heating  principles ; in  milk,  and  eggs, 
and  fish,  and  the  grains,  c&c.,  in  their  natural  state, 
but  not  in  starch,  any  fatty  substance,  or  sugar.  Those, 
therefore,  who  live  mostly  on  white  bread,  butter,  and 
confectionery,  which  contain  none,  or  very  little  of  these 
elements  which  keep  the  brain  and  nerves  in  a healthy 
condition,  are  those  who  suffer  most  from  headaches, 
neuralgia,  and  nervous  diseases,  and  those  who,  finally, 
die  of  apoplexy. 

We  have  noticed,  also,  in  another  chapter,  that 
nursing  and  expectant  mothers,  who  live  on  carbona- 
ceous food,  are  peculiarly  liable  to  toothache,  headache, 


HOW  TO  PREVENT  APOPLEXY. 


391 


neuralgia,  and  nervous  disorders,  because  Nature  favors 
the  infant  at  the  expense  of  the  mother,  and  therefore, 
if  the  right  elements  are  not  furnished  sufficient  for 
child  and  mother,  the  mother  suffers  first.  These 
hints  clearly  indicate  the  course  of  diet  necessary  to 
prevent  headache,  neuralgia,  nervous  excitements,  apo- 
plexy, and  all  other  diseases  dependent  on  the  healthy 
action  of  the  nerves  or  brain ; and  this  on  the  simple 
principle,  so  often  explained,  that  no  organ  or  function 
can  perform  its  appropriate  duties,  or  keep  in  health, 
without  a constant  and  regular  supply  of  the  elements 
composing  or  used  in  that  organ  or  function. 

For  all  these  sufferings  from  headache,  neuralgia, 
hysterics,  &c.,  from  which  the  young  suffer  so  much, 
and  many  so  intensely,  the  remedy  is  simple  and  cer- 
tain. Avoid  the  heating,  unnatural  articles  of  food, 
out  of  which  have  been  taken  the  elements  before 
enumerated  as  necessary  to  keep  the  brain  and  nerves 
in  order,  — such  as  white  bread,  butter,  fat,  and  sugar, 
and  all  the  pastry  and  confectionery  which  are  made  up 
of  those  heating  principles, — and  take,  instead,  only 
natural  food,  in  Avhich  are  retained  the  elements  needed, 
and  the  cure  is  certain. 

Apoplexy,  also,  which  seldom,  I think  never,  occurs 
except  in  those  who  have  been  for  a long  time  overfed 
with  carbonaceous  food,  almost  never  occurring  in  per- 
sons under  forty  years  of  age,  and  not  in  persons  so 
70ung  as  that,  unless  they  have  added  to  carbonaceous 
food  the  stimulus  of  alcoholic  drinks  or  strong  spices  and 
condiments,  is,  of  course,  prevented  by  abstaining  from 


392 


HOW  TO  CURE  APOPLEXY. 


the  articles  which  cause  it,  and  taking,  instead,  those 
which  contain  the  elements  necessary  for  the  healthy 
action  of  the  brain. 

My  attention  was,  many  years  ago,  particularly  di- 
rected to  this  subject  from  motives  of  strong  personal 
interest  in  it ; and  I have  often  had  occasion  to  prescribe 
for  others  the  course  that  I have  found  useful  to  myself, 
witli  a success  which  fully  confirms  me  in  the  view  of 
the  subject  just  given. 

At  the  age  of  forty  my  father  commenced  having 
premonitory  symptoms  of  apoplexy,  and  from  the  age 
of  forty  to  fifty  had  a number  of  slight  attacks,  and 
one  quite  severe ; but  he  made  no  change  in  his  habits, 
eating  habitually  highly-carbonaceous  food,  and  drink- 
ing, as  the  custom  then  was,  brandy,  or  some  other 
alcoholic  drink,  three  or  four  times  a day,  and,  at  the 
age  of  fifty-four,  he  died  suddenly  of  apoplexy.  At 
the  age  of  forty  I also,  having  inherited  his  form  and 
constitutional  characteristics,  commenced  having  the 
same  kind  of  premonitory  symptoms  of  apoplexy, 
which  also  continued  and  increased  till  after  the  age 
of  fifty,  although,  supposing  then  that  that  was  all 
that  would  be  necessary,  I abstained  from  all  alcoholic 
drinks  and  stimulating  condiments ; but  having  an  at- 
tack that  rendered  me  unconscious  for  an  hour  or  more, 
I found  something  more  was  necessary  to  save  me  from 
my  father’s  fate.  After  that  I gradually  diminished  my 
carbonaceous  food  till  I came  up,  I think,  to  the  true 
philosophy  of  eating ; and  now,  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
fi)ur,  I have,  I think,  eradicated  all  hereditary  tendency 


HOW  TO  CUKE  APOPLEXY. 


393 


to  apoplexy,  not  having  had,  for  some  years,  even  a 
headache,  or  other  premonitory  symptom  of  it ; and, 
besides  having  disposed  of  other  infirmities,  I have 
more  energy,  more  power  of  endurance,  mentally  and 
physically,  and  more  recuperative  power,  than  I had 
at  the  age  of  forty. 

I make  the  sacrifice  of  publishing  these  personal  items 
in  liope  of  benefiting  others  who  may  have  similar  hered- 
itary tendencies,  and  in  the  hope  of  corroborating,  if  not 
confirming,  the  opinion  elsewhere  expressed,  that  hered- 
itary diseases  are  not  necessarily  incurable,  nor  hereditary 
tendencies  ineradicable. 


394 


DEFECTIVE  TEETH- 


THE  CAUSE  AND  PREVENTION  OF  DE- 
FECTIVE TEETH. 

In  one  important  respect  the  teeth  differ  from  other 
organs  of  the  animal  economy  — they  have  no  recupera- 
tive power.  But,  to  compensate  for  this  defect,  they 
are  made  of  materials  more  indestructible  than  those  of 
any  other  organs. ; so  that  being  properly  supplied  with 
the  elements  requisite  for  their  formation  and  nourish- 
ment, and  used  in  accordance  with  Nature’s  laws,  they 
last  the  lifetime  of  the  animal,  and  are  not  subject  to 
disease.  Thus  we  find  in  animals  in  their  natural  state 
sound  teeth  to  the  end  of  life. 

The  elephant  a hundred  years  old  has  no  defective 
teeth,  unless  they  have  been  injured  by  accident,  or 
have  been  made  to  eat  improper  food  in  the  service 
of  man.  But  animals  subjected  to  unnatural  food  have 
defective  teeth,  and,  if  shorter  lived  than  man,  and  the 
enamel  less  firm,  are  sooner  infiuenced  by  improper 
food. 

The  teeth  of  the  cow,  for  example,  that  is  made  to 
live  on  the  dregs  of  breweries  and  distilleries,  begin  to 
decay  in  a very  short  time.  But  in  this  case  the  cause 
of  the  decay  is  not  physiological  so  much  as  mechanical, 
for  it  is  found  that  the  decay  is  more  or  less  rapid  ac- 
cording to  the  temperature  of  the  swill  which  they  are 


THE  CHEMICAL  COMPOSITION  OF  TEETH.  395 


obliged  to  eat  — those  at  a distance  from  the  distillery, 
whose  food  gets  cold  before  it  reaches  them,  preserving 
their  teeth  longer  than  those  who,  being  near,  take  it 
hot  from  the  vat. 

This  brings  us  to  a consideration  of  the  different 
laws,  the  disobedience  of  which  is  the  cause  of  de- 
fective teeth,  as  it  is  of  all  our  diseases  and  sufferings. 
The  universe,  and  everything  in  it,  whether  of  mind 
or  matter,  from  the  inorganic  atom  that  can  be  seen 
only  with  a microscope  to  the  mind  of  the  highest 
archangel,  is  moved,  and  changed,  and  regulated  by 
fixed  laws ; and  while  these  laws  are  permitted  to  act 
harmoniously,  all  is  well,  but  disobedience  to  any  one 
brings  its  penalties.  All  suffering  and  all  defects  may, 
therefore,  be  traced  to  the  disobedience  of  some  law  of 
our  being;  and  the  question  before  us  is.  Why  do  not 
our  teeth,  like  the  teeth  of  other  animals,  last  our  life- 
time? That  they  are  made  as  perfect,  if  the  right 
materials  are  furnished,  there  cannot  be  a doubt. 

But  are  the  necessary  elements  furnished  to  children 
as  they  are  to  the  young  of  other  animals  ? And  do 
we  not  subject  our  teeth  to  deleterious  influences  from 
which  animals  that  obey  their  natural  instincts  are 
exempt  ? 

The  forming  young  of  other  animals,  while  depen- 
dent on  the  mother,  get  lime,  and  phosphorus,  and 
potash,  and  silex,  and  all  the  other  elements  of  which 
the  teeth  are  composed,  from  the  blood  or  milk  of  the 
mother,  and  she  gets  them  from  the  food  which  Nature 
provides  containing  these  elements  in  their  natural  pro- 
portions. 


396  THE  CHEMICAL  COMPOSITION  OF  TEETH. 

But  where  can  the  child  in  its  forming  state  get 
these  necessary  elements,  whose  mother  lives  princi- 
pally on  starch,  and  butter,  and  sugar,  neither  of  which 
contains  a particle  of  lime,  phosphorus,  potash,  or  silex? 
Nature  performs  no  miracles.  She  makes  teeth  as  glass 
is  made,  by  combining  the  elements  which  compose 
them  according  to  her  own  chemical  principles.  And 
this  illustration  is  the  more  forcible,  because  the  com-* 
position  of  ^ the  enamel  of  the  teeth  and  of  glass  is  very 
nearly  identical ; both,  at  least,  requiring  the  combina- 
tion of  silex  with  some  alkaline  principle. 

If,  then,  the  mother  of  an  unborn  or  nursing  infant 
lives  on  white  bread  and  butter,  pastry,  and  confection- 
ery, which  contain  no  silex,  and  very  little  of  the  other 
elements  which  compose  the  teeth,  nothing  short  of  a 
miracle  can  give  her  a child  with  good  teeth,  and  es- 
pecially with  teeth  well  enamelled. 

Nature  does  what  she  can  for  innocent  and  helpless 
unborn  and  nursing  infants,  by  using  all  available 
materials,  even  getting  them  from  the  teeth  of  the 
mother.  And  hence,  it  is  well  known,  that  starch, 
butter,  and  sugar-eating  young  mothers  always  suffer 
most  from  their  teeth,  and  go  to  the  dentist  most,  while 
an  infant  is  dependent  on  them  for  support,  as  they 
suffer  also,  at  these  times,  from  neuralgia,  headaches, 
dyspepsia,  &c.,  as  I have  elsewhere  explained,  for 
want  of  the  elements  which  keep  the  brain  and  nerves 
In  a healthy  condition. 

Thus,  instead  of  "visiting  the  iniquity  of  the  fathers 
upon  the  children,”  Nature,  as  far  as  possible,  protects 


HOW  TO  GET  feJOUND  TEETH  FOR  CHILDREN.  897 

mnocent  children,  and  visits  on  their  mothers  the  pen- 
alty for  their  own  transgressions.  But  there  are  cases 
where,  in  accordance  with  natural  law,  children  must 
Buffer  for  the  transgressions  of  their  parents.  And  de- 
fective teeth  are  an  illustration  of  this  statement.  The 
enamel  of  the  teeth,  wanting,  as  it  is,  and  from  the 
nature  of  its  composition  must  be,  in  all  recuperative 
power,  if  once  broken  or  defective  can  never  be  re- 
stored, and  the  toothache  that  follows  from  the  inflam- 
mation and  exposure  of  the  nerves,  &c.,  the  child  must 
suffer,  while  the  mother  alone  is  responsible.  But  thi^ 
is  an  exceptional  case ; all  other  organs,  having  recu- 
perative power,  are  capable  of  restoration,  even  though 
they  may  be  feeble  and  defective  in  consequence  of  the 
mother’s  neglect;  and  even  this  exception  may,  by 
restoring  deficient  elements,  be  confined  to  the  first 
set  of  teeth.  This,  being  a very  important  practical 
point,  deserves  to  be  strongly  presented. 

Second  Teeth  may  be  made  Sound  where  the  first  were 
Defective. 

The  second  tooth  of  a child  is  formed  from  materials 
furnished  in  the  blood,  secreted,  or  taken  up,  and  used 
in  forming  it  by  a mysterious  power  imparted  to  the 
little  gland,  or  nucleus,  placed  for  that  purpose  directly 
under  the  first  tooth,  but  entirely  independent  of  it. 
This  mysterious  power  acts  in  this,  as  in  all  other 
organs,  with  unerring  certainty,  and  if  the  right  ele- 
ments are  furnished  in  the  blood,  will  be  sure  to  find 


898  HOW  TO  GET  SOUND  TEETH  FOR  CHILDREN. 

them,  and  furnish  them  in  right  proportions  to  the 
forming  tooth. 

It  is,  therefore,  no  more  certain  that  glass  can  be 
made  by  using  the  right  materials  in  the  right  way 
than  it  is  certain  that  teeth,  good  and  sound,  will  be 
made  by  using  the  right  materials  in  the  right  way. 
Cheer  up,  then,  disconsolate  mothers,  who  weep  and 
mourn,  as  you  must,  for  the  toothache  of  your  little 
one,  for  which  you  feel  to  be  responsible.  If  the  second 
teeth  are  yet  to  come,  you  have  still  space  for  repent- 
ance, and  works  meet  for  repentance. 

But  what  articles  of  food  will  make  good  teeth? 
Good  milk  will  make  good  teeth,  for  it  makes  them 
for  calves.  Good  meat  will  make  good  teeth,  for  it 
makes  them  for  lions  and  wolves.  Good  vegetables 
and  fruits  will  make  good  teeth,  for  they  make  them 
for  monkeys. 

Good  corn,  oats,  barley,  wheat,  rye,  and  indeed 
everything  that  grows,  will  make  good  teeth,  if  eaten 
in  their  natural  state,  no  elements  being  taken  out ; for 
ivery  one  of  them  does  make  teeth  for  horses,  cows, 
gheep,  or  some  other  animal.  But  starch,  sugar,  lard, 
dr  butter  will  not  make  good  teeth.  You  tried  them 
dl  with  your  child’s  first  teeth,  and  failed ; and  your 
neighbors  have  tried  them,  and  indeed  all  Christendom 
kas  tried  them,  and  the  result  is  that  a man  or  woman 
it  forty  with  good,  sound  teeth  is  a very  rare  exception. 

Nothing,  then,  can  be  clearer  than  your  duty  to  keep 
ijom  youi  childien  confectionery,  pastry,  white  bread 
and  buttei,  ginger c/i^ad  and  sweet  cakes,  and  feed 


IS  SUGAR  INJURIOUS  TO  TEETH? 


399 


them  instead  on  milk,  unbolted  bread,  meats,  eggs^ 
fruits,  vegetables,  or  anything  else  in  short  which  they 
best  relish,  from  which  have  not  been  taken  any  of 
their  native  elements.  But  you  must  attend  to  this 
early ; for  if  children  live  on  carbonaceous  food,  and 
the  necessary  elements  are  not  furnished  till  the  second 
teeth  are  formed,  ''  there  remaineth  no  more  sacrifice  for 
sin,  but  a fearful  looking  for  of  judgment.”  The  teeth 
will  either  come  in  a defective  state,  or  the  enamel  will 
be  thin  and  easily  broken,  and  the  juices  of  the  mquth, 
being  admitted  into  the  tooth,  cause  its  decay,  without 
the  possibility  of  cure.  For  a time,  the  orifice  being 
filled,  the  decay  may  be  suspended ; but  the  enamel 
being  imperfect  and  thin,  will  soon  give  way  in  some 
other  place,  and  there  is  no  saving  them. 


iOO 


DISEASES  OF  THE  HEART. 


HOW  TO  PEEVENT  DISEASES  OF  HEART. 

The  circulation  of  the  blood  is  a mechanical  opera- 
tion, and  the  action  of  the  heart  on  the  blood,  drawing 
it  from  every  part  of  the  system  through  the  veins,  and 
sending  it  to  every  part  through  the  arteries,  is  like  the 
action  of  a fire-engine  drawing  water  from  a cistern 
through  a hose,  and  sending  it,  at  the  same  time, 
through  another  hose,  into  every  part  of  a building  on 
fire.  And  the  arrangement  of  valves  by  which  this 
double  action  is  accomplished  is  alike  in  both  opera- 
tions. 

Many  of  the  difficulties  and  embarrassments  of  the 
action  of  the  heart  are  also  mechanical.  Sometimes 
there  is  an  organic  congenital  malformation  by  which 
the  heart  is  imperfect,  and,  of  course,  it  can  never 
perfectly  perform  its  function,  and  the  circulation  is 
irregular  and  defective.  Sometimes  the  valves  get 
out  of  order,  or  become  hardened  like  bone,  and*  act 
very  imperfectly  in  preventing  the  regurgitation  of 
blood,  and,  of  course,  the  circulation  is  deranged. 
Sometimes  the  accumulation  of  fat  around  the  heart 
prevents  its  free  expansion,  and  embarrasses  its  action. 
Sometimes  contraction  of  the  chest,  as  in  tight  dressing, 
embarrasses  the  action  of  the  heart,  and  palpitation  and 
fainting  are  produced  ; and  this,  indeed,  is  so  commonly 


DISEASES  OF  THE  HEAKT. 


401 


the  cause  of  fainting  that  everybody  almost  instinctively 
cuts  the  strings  at  once,  in  such  cases,  as  a rational 
means  of  relief. 

Sometimes  the  embarrassment  is  from  increased 
pressure  of  the  blood,  causing  distention  of  the  blood- 
vessels and  of  the  heart.  Sometimes  the  embarrass- 
ment and  irregular  action  are  caused  by  irritability  of 
the  neivous  system,  and  sometimes  by  overheated  and 
stimulating  blood.  We  may  not  be  able  perfectly  to 
understand  the  cause  of  all  these  different  difficulties 
or  diseases  of  the  heart ; but  they  are  all  undoubtedly 
connected  with  erroneous  diet  or  erroneous  habits,  for 
other  animals  in  their  native  conditions  have  none  of 
these  troubles  or  diseases,  although  the  circulation  is 
effected  by  the  same  mechanical  arrangement. 

How  congenital  defects,  or  ossification  of  the  valves 
are  produced,  I do  not  profess  to  understand ; but  the 
cause  and  means  of  preventing  and  curing,  or,  at  least, 
alleviating  the  other  difficulties,  I think  can  be  under- 
stood and  explained. 

As  we  cannot  stop  the  heart,  to  repair  its  valves 
when  once  deranged,  as  we  can  stop  an  engine  for 
repairs ; and  as  Nature  cannot,  in  the  nature  of  the 
case,  repair  ossified  or  displaced  valves,  that  trouble 
can  never  be  removed,  when  once  established.  And 
this  is  true  of  enlargement  of  the  heart,  or  arteries, 
or  veins  about  the  heart,  or  indeed  of  any  other  or- 
ganic affection.  And  in  such  cases  the  question  to 
be  considered  is,  How  can  such  persons  live,  so  as 
to  be  comfortable,  with  such  difficulties?  The  right 
26 


402  HOW  TO  TREAT  ORGANIC  DISEASES  OF  HEART. 

course  of  treatment  in  such  cases  can  be  illustrated 
and  enforced,  perhaps,  by  the  management  and  results 
of  two  cases. 

More  than  thirty  years  ago  I was  consulted  in  two 
cases  of  organic  diseases  of  the  heart  very  nearly  alike, 
and  very  clear  cases  of  incurable  disease.  Both  of 
about  the  same  age,  free  livers,  and  accustomed  to 
stimulating  food  and  some  stimulating  drinks,  but  of 
very  different  tempers ; of  religious  character,  and 
power  of  self-control,  and  both  so  seriously  affected  as 
frequently,  when  excited  or  fatigued,  to  fall  into  an 
unconscious  state,  and  remain  in  it  for  hours.  They 
were  both  told  their  lives  were  in  their  own  hands, 
and  advised  to  abstain  from  carbonaceous  food,  stimu- 
lating drinks,  condiments,  and  medicines ; avoid  all 
excitements,  mental  and  physical,  and  never  allow 
themselves  to  run  or  get  fatigued,  even  if  their  houses 
should  burn  down  over  their  heads  — in  that  case  just 
deliberately  walk  out  and  let  them  burn,  rather  than 
fight  the  fire  themselves. 

Their  reception  of  the  advice  was  characteristic  of 
the  two  men,  and  the  results  such  as  might  have  been 
expected.  One  said,  after  a few  moments  of  silence, 
but  in  great  agitation,  '‘About  dying,  I am  not  particu- 
lar ; but  while  I do  live  I shall  have  my  brandy  and 
my  fat  beef  as  usual.  I am  not  to  be  all  my  lifetime 
subject  to  bondage  for  fear  of  death.”  — In  less  than 
three  weeks  some  neighbors’  logs  got  into  his  garden, 
just  as  he  had  finished  his  dinner  of  fat  beef,  and  had 
taken  his  brandy  to  make  it  digest.  In  great  excite- 


HOW  TO  CURE  DISEASES  OF  THE  HEART.  403 


ment  he  ran  out  after  them,  and  fell  down  dead  in  the 
garden. 

The  other  gentleman  said,  ''It  is  clearly  my  duty  to 
'keep  under  my  body,  and  bring  it  into  subjection,' 
according  to  the  example  of  the  Apostle.”  — He  is  now 
living,  at  the  age  of  seventy-six,  and  enjoying  com- 
fortable health,  having,  for  thirty  years,  lived  "a  quiet 
and  peaceable  life,  in  all  godliness  and  honesty,”  and 
having  been  exempt  from  those  fainting  fits  which  so 
distressed  and  alarmed  his  friends ; indeed,  having  en- 
joyed vastly  moie  in  eating  and  drinking  than  if  he  had 
put  no  restraints  on  his  appetites,  and  even  more  tlian 
if  he  had  only  put  on  them  such  restraints  as  are  cus- 
tomary in  the  class  of  virtuous  and  excellent  people  to 
which  he  belongs. 

If  palpitation,  shortness  of  breath  on  going  up  stairs, 
fainting  fits,  distress  about  the  heart,  any  or  all  are 
produced,  as  they  often  are  in  persons  predisposed  to 
obesity,  by  accumulation  of  fat  about  the  heart,  the 
remedy  is  simple  and  sure  : for  if  the  material  of  which 
fat  is  made  be  not  supplied,  fat  will  not  only  not  be 
made,  but  if  made  will  be  absorbed.  Follow,  there- 
fore, the  directions  given  in  the  chapter  on  Corpulence. 

If  these  symptoms  are  produced  by  tight  lacing,  the 
remedy  is  equally  simple,  and  upon  the  same  principle 
— stop  the  supply  of  strings,  and  belts,  and  corsets. 

If  they  are  produced  by  heating  food,  stimulating 
drinks  and  condiments,  of  course  these  are  also  to  be 
withdrawn,  and  the  cure  is  certain.  If  by  derange- 
ment of  the  nervous  system,  follow  the  directions  in 


i04  HOW  TO  CURE  DISEASlES  OF  THE  HEART. 

the  chapter  on  Apoplexy,  Neuralgia,  and  Nervous 
Diseases. 

While,  therefore,  I do  not  deny  that  there  are  cases 
of  enlargement  of  the  heart  and  arteries  that  must  prove 
fatal  in  spite  of  all  treatment,  yet,  in  most  cases,  by 
following  the  foregoing  suggestions,  1 have  not  a doubt 
that  in  functional  cases  a radical  cure  can  be  effected, 
and  in  organic,  a great  modification  and  improvement 
of  the  symptoms. 


HOW  TO  PEE  VENT  AND  CURE  CORPULENCE.  405 


HOW  TO  CUES  COEPULENCE. 

Adipose  substance,  or  fat,  is  deposited  under  the 
skin  for  three  purposes:  1.  To  protect  the  system 

from  cold,  or,  in  other  words,  to  retain  the  heat  of  the 
body,  fat  being  a good  non-conductor  of  heat.  2.  To 
form  an  insensible  cushion  to  protect  the  internal  or- 
gans from  the  effects  of  concussions,  pressures,  &c. 
3.  To  fill  up  the  angles  and  interstices  formed  by  the 
attachments  of  muscles  to  the  prominences  of  bone, 
&c.,  so  as  to  leave  the  outlines  of  the  body  rounded 
and  beautiful.  Nature’s  lines  of  beauty  being  always 
curved,  while  sharp  and  angular  lines  are  given  for 
utility. 

This  fat  is  composed  of  the  same  carbonaceous  ele- 
ments as  are  used  by  the  lungs  to  furnish  animal  heat, 
and,  if  not  otherwise  supplied,  as  in  case  of  sickness, 
when  fat  or  other  carbonaceous  food  cannot  be  di- 
gested, or  in  fasting,  they  are  supplied  by  absorbing 
this  adipose  covering,  and  this  we  call  losing  flesh,  or 
growing  poor. 

On  this  account  fat  men  bear  fasting  longer  than 
lean  men ; and  on  this  principle  hibernating  animals, 
as  the  raccoon,  badger,  and  the  brown  bear,  fat  up  in 
the  summer  on  the  abundance  of  food  that  is  then  fur- 
nisLed  them,  and  in  winter  crawl  into  their  dens  and 


406  HOW  TO  PREVENT  AND  CURE  CORPULENCE. 

live  on  themselves,  coming  out  in  the  spring  poor  and 
haggard,  and  ready  for  a new  supply.  And  here  we 
have  the  foundation  for  philosophical  cure  for  obesity. 

Butter,  the  fat  of  meats,  starch,  and  sugar  furnish 
animal  heat,  and  also  the  adipose  covering  which,  in 
excess,  constitutes  corpulence.  Some  of  these  princi- 
ples the  lungs  must  have  every  moment,  or  we  die  for 
want  of  animal  heat.  If,  therefore,  these  carbonaceous 
principles  are  not  supplied  in  food,  they  are  taken  from 
the  fatty  accumulations  under  the  skin  — the  deposits 
being  withdrawn  in  case  of  necessity,  just  as  a banker 
uses  his  surplus  funds  when  he  gets  into  a pinch.  This 
withdrawal  of  fatty  deposits  is  seen  every  day  in  fevers 
and  other  diseases,  when  food  cannot  be  digested,  and 
is  seen  also  in  fastings,  as  in  shipwrecked  mariners,  &c. ; 
and  it  has  been  proved  in  such  cases  that  fat  men  live 
longer  than  lean  ones. 

By  experiments  on  prisoners  in  Scottish  prisons  (see 
page  98),  it  is  seen  that  fourteen  ounces  of  carbona- 
ceous food  are  required,  in  a moderate  temperature,  at 
rest,  to  keep  up  the  weight  of  the  body,  and  by  the 
rations  of  English  soldiers,  etc.,  it  is  also  seen  that  in 
active  service  from  twenty  to  twenty-two  ounces  are 
necessary.  If  less  than  these  amounts  are  supplied,  the 
balance  is  withdrawn  from  the  deposits  under  the  skin, 
as  has  been  proved  over  and  over  again  by  experiment. 

The  five  hundred  prisoners,  in  five  different  jails  in 
Scotland,  above  referred  to,  had,  on  an  average,  thir- 
teen ounces  each  day  for  two  months,  and  they  lo^  in 


HOW  TO  PREVENT  AND  CURE  CORPULENCE.  401 


iv^eight  six  hundred  and  fifty-three  pounds,  varying 
somewhat  in  different  prisons,  according  to  the  differ^ 
ent  nutritive  value  of  the  different  articles  used;  but 
in  like  circumstances  losing  in  just  the  proportion  as 
the  sugar,  starch,  or  fat  fell  below  the  requisite  amount. 

We  have,  then,  a standard  by  which  to  judge  of  the 
requisite  amount  of  starch  or  sugar  necessary  to  keep  the 
deposit  of  fat  good.  We  must,  however,  remember  that 
butter  and  the  fat  of  all  meats  contain  two  and  one  half 
times  as  much  fattening  qualities,  in  a given  weight, 
as  starch  or  sugar,  containing,  as  they  all  do,  no  water, 
while  starch  and  sugar  contain  seventy-five  per  cent,  of 
water. 

If,  then,  a man  of  average  weight,  say  one  hundred 
and  fifty  pounds,  wishes  to  retain  the  deposits  as  they 
now  are,  and  continue  that  weight,  in,  perhaps,  nine- 
teen cases  in  twenty  he  will  succeed,  and  remain,  year 
after  year,  by  eating  any  of  the  articles  in  the  foregoing 
table  in  such  proportions  as  to  get,  with  his  necessary 
nitrates,  from  fourteen  to  twenty-one  ounces  of  car- 
bonates, according  to  his  exercise,  in  moderate  weather 
— in  hot  weather  less,  and  in  cold  weather  more. 

But  it  is  not  expected,  nor  is  it  desirable,  that  he 
should  weigh  out  his  food,  and  the  table  is  not  pre- 
pared for  that  purpose ; still  it  will  be  found  useful  to 
have  in  mind  the  relative  value  of  different  articles  of 
food  in  heating  and  nutritive  properties,  both  while 
furnishing  and  eating  his  dinners. 

If  he  lives  on  articles  of  food  as  Nature  has  furnished 


108  HOW  TO  PKEVENT  AND  CURE  CORPULENCE. 

them,  his  appetite  will  direct  him  both  in  regard  to  the 
quantity  to  be  eaten,  and  the  articles  to  be  eaten  to- 
gether ; but,  as  I have  elsewhere  explained,  if  he  add 
to  these  articles  of  food  either  fine  fiour,  which  is  mostly 
starch,  or  sugar,  he  will,  in  proportion  to  the  amount 
used,  increase  the  amount  of  heating  and  fattening  food 
without  increasing  the  strengthening ; and  if  he  add 
butter,  or  lard,  or  the  fat  of  meats,  he  adds,  in  pro- 
portion to  the  amount  used,  two  and  one  half  times 
as  much  to  his  carbonates,  without  increasing  his 
nitrates. 

In  that  case  one  of  two  undesirable  consequences  will 
follow  — he  will  increase  in  fatness,  if  predisposed  to 
obesity,  and  the  blood  will  become  heated  by  this  extra 
carbon  circulating  in  it  before  being  deposited,  and  also 
by  retaining  the  heat  in  the  system  as  a non-conductor, 
or  the  extra  carbonaceous  material  will  be  cast  off  as 
unnatural  waste,  and  being  unnatural  will  ferment, 
causing  flatulence,  and  irritation,  and  the  colics,  and 
bowel  complaints,  which  are  the  natural  consequence. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  he  takes  food  containing  less 
than  from  fourteen  to  twenty-one  ounces  of  fat  and 
heat-producing  food,  he  will  draw  on  his  deposits  to 
an  amount  proportionate  to  the  deficiency,  and  to  the 
amount  of  exercise  which  he  takes.  Moreover,  inas- 
much as  corpulence,  or  extra  fatty  deposits,  comes 
generally  from  extra,  and  not  from  natural,  carbona- 
ceous food,  it  is  not  necessary,  except  where  the  con- 
stitutional tendency  to  obesity  is  very  strong,  to  reduce 
the  supply  of  natural  food  at  all,  as  the  cause  is 


HOW  TO  PEEVENT  AND  CUBE  COEPITLENOE.  409 


moved  by  cutting  off  the  extra  carbon,  and  the  extra 
fat  is  absorbed. 

And,  besides,  in  cases  where  the  tendency  to  corpu- 
lence is  not  constitutionally  strong,  it  is  often  only 
necessary  to  abstain  from  that  one  principle  of  car- 
bonaceous food  which  has  the  strongest  tendency  to 
produce  fat  — doing  it,  not  by  the  process  of  digestion, 
but  by  a mere  transfer  of  fat  from  one  animal  to 
another,  whereas  sugar  has  to  be  digested  to  be  con- 
verted into  fat,  and  starch  has  first  to  be  converted  into 
sugar  before  it  can  be  converted  into  fat. 

Of  this  very  simple  process  of  curing  obesity,  let  me 
give  an  illustration.  A gentleman  of  ordinary  height, 
who  weighed  two  hundred  and  ten  pounds,  and  his 
wife,  rather  short  in  stature,  who  weighed,  1 think, 
one  hundred  and  sixty  pounds,  under  my  direction 
tried  the  experiment  of  abstaining  from  butter,  and 
mostly  from  the  fat  of  all  meats,  except  as  they  were 
necessary  with  steak,  fish,  &c.,  which  were  deficient 
in  this  principle ; but  eating  sugar  and  fine  flour  mod- 
erately, as  usual ; never,  however,  using  butter  with 
white  bread  or  other  farinaceous  food,  but  eating  cheese 
instead. 

In  a few  months  the  gentleman  had  withdrawn 
twenty-five  pounds  of  fatty  deposits,  and  the  lady 
about  fifteen.  And,  being  satisfied  with  their  improve- 
ment, they  have,  for  the  last  three  years,  remained  at 
the  same  weight,  by  simply  being  careful  not  to  eat 
an  excess  of  any  carbonaceous  food ; eating,  however, 
butter  and  all  kinds  of  fat  within  the  limits  prescribed. 


410  HOW  TO  PKEVBNT  ANT>  CURE  CORPULENCE. 

William  Banting,  the  Englishman,  is  also  an  exam- 
ple of  cure  of  obesity  by  abstaining  only  partially  from 
extra  carbonaceous  food.  He  reduced  himself,  accord- 
ing to  the  statement  in  his  pamphlet,  from  two  hundred 
and  two  to  one  hundred  and  fifty-six  pounds,  by  "ab- 
staining as  much  as  possible  from  bread,  butter,  milkj 
sugar,  beer,  potatoes,  and  some  kinds  of  wines,  aa 
port ; and  living  on  beef,  mutton,  and  other  meats 
except  pork,  and  any  vegetables  except  potatoes,  with 
good  Madeira,  claret,  and  sherry  wines,  and  a tumbler 
of  gin^  whiskey^  or  brandy  grog^  at  nighty  as  a night- 
cap.” 

But  neither  Banting  rxor  his  medical  adviser  seems 
to  have  had  but  an  inkling  of  the  principle  upon  which 
the  change  was  effected,  the  one  seeming  to  think  it 
was  a process  by  which  to  kill  a disease  which  he 
absurdly  calls  a " parasite,”  and  the  other  that  it  was 
produced  by  some  chemical  effect  on  the  secretions  of 
the  liver ; but  neither  comprehended  the  simple  princi- 
ple on  which  the  whole  effect  was  produced. 

Nor  did  they  understand  what  principles  in  food 
should  be  avoided,  or  why  they  should  be  avoided. 
Accordingly  we  find  bread,  milk,  and  potatoes  con- 
demned, while  alcohol  and  fat  meat  are  allowed. 
Indeed,  the  cure  seems  to  have  been  effected  by  a 
meie  blunder,  in  which  it  happened  that,  although 
the  alcohol  and  the  fat  in  beef  and  mutton  must  have 
retarded  the  process  of  absorption,  and,  of  course, 
delayed  the  cure,  still,  in  spite  of  this  error,  the  cure 
in  his  case  was  effected  by  abstaining  from  starch, 


HOW  TO  PKEVENT  AND  CURE  CORPULENCE.  411 

Bugar,  and  fat  in  other  food,  which  brought  the  amount 
used  daily  below  the  fourteen  to  twenty  ounces  required 
to  keep  up  the  deposits.  But  in  the  directions  given  in 
the  pamphlet  there  is  nothing  to  show  that  the  tumbler 
oi  gin,  whiskey,  or  brandy  "nightcap”  was  not  as  im- 
portant in  the  cure  as  beefsteak  or  fish ; and  hundreds 
who  never  drank  these  death-dealing  articles  before, 
are  now  taking,  by  the  recommendation  of  Banting, 
enough  every  night  to  give  them  a regular  fuddle,  as 
a part  of  the  necessary  process  of  curing  obesity.  And 
yet  everybody  knows  that  alcohol,  in  any  form,  tends 
to  produce  obesity — :Uot,  however,  by  adding  to  the 
fat,  but  by  retarding  absorption. 

In  spite  of  these  absurd  and  conflicting  recommenda- 
tions, those  whose  tendency  to  corpulence  is  not  very 
strong,  have  succeeded  in  reducing  it  by  these  conflict- 
ing directions ; but,  on  the  other  hand,  those  whose 
predispositions  to  it  are  strong,  and  whose  appetites 
■ for  carbonaceous  food  are  also  strong,  fail  altogether, 
or,  if  they  partially  succeed,  finding  the  sacrifice  too 
great,  fall  back  to  their  old  habits,  and  take  on  again 
their  old  burdens  of  flesh. 

But  those  who  set  about  this  matter  scientifically, 
and,  instead  of  confining  themselves  exclusively  to 
" beef  and  other  meats  except  pork,  any  vegetables 
except  potatoes,  with  good  Madeira,  claret,  and  sherry 
wines,  and  a tumbler  of  gin,  whiskey,  or  brandy  grog, 
as  a nightcap,”  and  thus  being  obliged  to  be  more 
scrupulously  abstemious  in  some  things,  on  account 
^)f  the  counteracting  influence  of  the  others,  taking 


il2  HOW  TO  PREVENT  AND  CURE  CORPULENCE. 

from  the  whole  bill  of  fare  which  God  has  given  them, 
consisting  of  ''every  living  that  moveth,”  and  every 
thing  that  grows,  that  is,  or  can  be  made,  agreeable 
to  the  palate  in  its  natural  state,  or  by  adding  such 
principles,  in  an  agreeable  form,  as  are  needed  to  sup- 
ply necessary  elements,  may  eat  what  they  please,  and 
all  they  desire,  and  still  reduce  their  surplus  fat,  if  they 
will  only  see  to  it  that  the  carbonaceous  matter  comes 
below  the  requisite  fourteen  to  twenty  ounces. 

Or  the  same  thing  can  be  accomplished  by  being 
careful  that  no  article  of  food  contains  more  than  its 
due  proportion  of  carbonaceous  food,  and  some  contain 
less ; and  if  some  do  contain  more,  that  others  contain- 
ing less  be  used  at  the  same  time.  For  example : 
Suppose  the  meal  before  you  consisted  of  unbolted 
bread,  milk,  eggs,  beef  or  mutton,  of  average  fatness, 
cooked  in  its  own  gravy.  As  all  these  articles  contain 
just  their  natural  proportions  of  carbonaceous  nourish- 
ment, you  might  eat  as  much  of  either  or  all  as  the 
appetite  demanded,  without  increasing  your  deposits 
of  fat;  and  if  the  beef  or  mutton  were  perfectly  lean, 
you  could  add  an  equivalent  for  the  fat  in  butter,  with 
out  varying  the  effect.  But  if,  instead  of  unbolted 
meal  bread,  your  bread  was  from  superfine  flour,  and 
instead  of  milk  you  had  butter,  thus  far  you  would 
get  nothing  but  carbonaceous  food ; and  then  if  you 
add  to  your  eggs  butter,  and  to  your  beef  and  mutton 
gravy  from  fat  pork,  or  flour  and  butter,  you  have  be- 
fore you,  instead  of  food  containing  its  natural  propor- 
tions of  carbonates  and  nitrates,  probably  double  the 


HOW  TO  PREVENT  AND  CURE  CORPULENCE.  413 

necessary  amount  of  carbonates ; and  in  eating  all  you 
want,  to  get  the  necessary  supply  of  muscle-making 
food,  you  have  eaten,  perhaps,  a third  more  fat-making 
food  than  is  needed,  and  the  surplus  must  either  l>e 
added  to  your  adipose  deposits,  or  be  thrown  off  as 
waste. 

Now,  this  is  just  what  the  better  classes  in  England, 
and  all  classes  in  New  England,  are  doing  every  day  ; 
and  therefore  all  who  are  predisposed  to  obesity,  and 
have  not  exercise  enough  to  work  it  off,  are  constantly 
waxing  fat,  while  the  lean  ones  are  suffering  from  the 
effects  of  this  heating  food  in  some  other  way. 

These  facts  and  these  principles  cannot  be  disproved, 
and  it  follows  that,  with  but  little  sacrifice,  most  people, 
even  if  inclined  to  corpulence,  can  regulate  their  weight 
as  they  please.  Indeed  there  is  not  only  no  sacrifice 
even  of  the  pleasures  of  eating,  but  a positive  addition 
to  gustatory  pleasures,  in  confining  ourselves  to  such 
articles  of  food  as  are  best  adapted  to  our  condition. 
And  this  is  the  testimony  of  every  man  who  has  had 
perseverance  enough  to  overcome  the  first  cravings  of 
a perverted  appetite.  After  the  first  short  struggle 
with  it,  unless  the  struggle  is  prolonged  by  an  occa- 
sional indulgence,  which,  of  course,  prolongs  the 
struggle,  the  appetite  and  taste  soon  conform  to  their 
primitive  condition  of  craving  and  relishing  Lest  just 
the  food  that  is  best  for  us,  and  w^e  return  to  ^uv  sim- 
ple, child-like  love  for  natural  food,  cooked  without 
abstracting  any  of  its  essential  elements,  oj  adding 
anything  injurious. 


114 


LEANNESS. 


LEANNESS : ITS  CAUSE  AND  ITS  CUEE. 

All  animals  but  man  are  fat  or  lean  as  they  are  fed 
on  carbonaceous  food  and  are  kept  still,  or  on  nitroge- 
nous food  and  are  permitted  to  run  at  large.  The 
farmer  lets  his  oxen  run  at  large,  or  works  them,  till 
the  muscles  are  developed,  and  they  are  grown  to  a 
sufficient  size  to  be  profitable  for  beef,  and  then  shuts 
them  up,  and  feeds  them  freely  on  Indian  corn  meal, 
and  they  immediately  begin  to  fatten  up  for  beef,  and 
within  certain  limits  the  fat  accumulates  in  proportion 
to  the  meal  they  can  be  induced  to  eat. 

In  some  places,  also,  hogs  are  permitted  to  range  in 
woods  and  fields  for  acorns  and  grass  till  they  are 
sufficiently  grown,  and  then  are  brought  in,  as  poor  as 
hounds,  to  be  fatted  up  for  the  market ; and  a calcula- 
tion can  be  made  with,  accuracy  as  to  how  many  pounds 
they  are  gaining  each  week,  by  noticing  how  much  corn 
meal  is  consumed ; and  two  pigs  of  the  same  family 
will  generally  keep  of  about  the  same  weight  if  treated 
in  the  same  way. 

But  let  a family  of  men  live  on  the  same  food,  and 
have  the  same  amount  of  exercise  and  the  same  general 
habits,  and  some  members  will  be  lean  as  wolves,  and 
others  as  fat  as  pigs. 


LEANNESS. 


ilo 


The  same  elements  are  found  to  compose  the  flesh  of 
the  pig  as  compose  the  flesh  of  man,  and  the  same  gen- 
eral arrangements  are  found  for  digestion  and  assimila- 
tion, and  generally,  especially  in  their  fully  domesticated 
state,  the  same  kinds  of  food  are  given  to  them  as  to 
men.  Pigs,  however,  get  the  skimmed  milk  and  bran, 
which  strengthen  the  powers  of  digestion,  while  men 
get  the  butter  and  fine  flour,  which  weaken  the  powers 
of  digestion ; and  tliis  fact  gives  us  the  means  of  ex- 
plaining the  otherwise  enigmatical  question,  — 

Why  is  it  that  a pig,  with  digestive  organs  and  appe- 
tites, if  not  habits  and  dispositions,  like  his  master, 
should  always,  with  good  food,  be  "fat  and  flourish- 
ing,” while  his  master,  with  better,  or  at  least  more 
carbonaceous  food,  may  be  as  "ill-favored  and  lean- 
fleshed  ” as  Pharaoh’s  kine  ? Let  us  see  if  this  enigma 
can  be  explained. 

We  are  fattened,  as  we  are  strengthened,  not  neces- 
sarily by  what  we  eat,  but  by  what  we  digest ; and 
constantly  overburdened  as  the  human  stomach  is  (in 
this  country  among  all  classes,  and  in  the  cities  of 
Europe  among  the  better  classes)  with  an  excess  of 
carbonaceous  food,  such  as  butter,  sugar,  lard,  starch, 
&c.,  which  is  never  all  digested,  after  a while  it  seems 
to  g(  I;  discouraged  and  to  cease  to  try  to  digest  it. 

In  such  cases,  those  who  are  predisposed  to  obesity 
become  fat,  but  weak,  languid,  and  stupid,  — the  carbo- 
naceous food  bein^  better  digested  than  the  nitroo;enous 
or  phosphatic ; while  those  who  are  predisposed  to  lean- 
ness may  have  muscular  or  mental  strength,  — the 


416 


CUEE  OF  LEANNESS. 


nitrogenous  and  phosphatic  in  them  being  digested,  but 
not  the  carbonaceous,  — but  become  lean  and  haggard, 
and  the  redundant  carbonaceous  food,  except  that  which 
supplies  animal  heat,  is  all  wasted,  and  that,  in  such 
persons,  is  generally  deficient. 

But  pigs,  not  having  predispositions,  except  to  obesi- 
ty, and  not  often  having  their  digestive  powers  weak- 
ened or  embarrassed  by  extra  carbonaceous  food,  digest 
and  give  credit  for  all  they  eat.  I have  been  told, 
however,  that  pigs  may  be  cloyed  by  overfeeding,  so 
as  to  lose  flesh  while  more  corn  meal  is  before  them 
than  they  can  eat,  and  that,  by  continued  overfeeding, 
they  will  continue  to  grow  lean.  In  such  cases,  in 
order  to  fatten  them,  the  food  must  first  be  withheld 
until  they  become  hungry,  and  then,  by  feeding  at  first 
sparingly,  and  keeping  the  supply  below  the  demand, 
their  digestive  powers  will  gradually  recover,  and  they 
will  fatten  like  other  pigs. 

Here,  then,  we  have  an  illustration  of  my  position  as 
to  the  cause  of  leanness,  and  at  the  same  time  a hint  as 
to  the  cure  of  it.  The  cause  of  leanness,  in  this  coun- 
try at  least,  is  never  the  want  of  carbonaceous  food, 
but  from  overloading  the  stomach  with  it,  as  before 
described.  What,  then,  can  be  more  rational  than  to 
lalm  a hint  from  the  farmer  with  his  pigs,  and  keep  tlie 
elomach  supplied  with  good  strengthening  and  fattening 
food  only  just  as  it  is  really  wanted  and  will  be  digested, 
never  eating  without  an  appetite,  and  never  eating  any- 
thing but  good  food,  so  cooked  and  served  as  to  be  eaten 
with  a good  relish? 


HOW  TO  SEOUEE  A GOOD  APPETITE. 


417 


In  this  way,  I venture  to  assert,  that  any  man,  how- 
ever predisposed  to  leanness,  may  give  his  bones  an 
adipose  covering  to  any  desirable  extent.  But  what 
course  will  secure  perpetually  a good  appetite,  a good 
relish  for  food,  and  good  digestion  ? 

How  to  secure  a good  Appetite. 

A.  good  appetite  cannot  he  permanently  secured 
without  regularity  in  times  of  eating. 

The  stomach  cannot,  like  the  heart  and  lungs,  work 
continually,  but  is  intended  to  have  its  time  for  labor 
and  its  time  for  rest.  It  is,  however,  very  accommo- 
dating, and  will  furnish  the  requisite  juices,  and  per- 
form the  requisite  labor  of  digesting  food,  once,  twice, 
and  even  four  or  five  times  a day,  if  its  task  is  given  it 
at  regular  hours ; but  it  must  have  rest : and  to  insure 
vigorous  digestion,  that  rest  must  be  as  long  and  con- 
tinuous as  the  regular  hours  of  sleep.  The  frequency 
and  time  of  meals  for  laboring  men,  — if  they  can  have 
good  nourishing  food,  and  that  which  is  not  too  easily 
digested,  — are  probably  three  times  in  twenty-four 
hours,  say  at  six  in  the  morning,  twelve  at  noon,  and 
six  at  night,  the  morning  and  noon  meals  containing 
the  principal  elements  for  muscular  power,  while  the 
evening  meal  is  such  as  will  not,  in  the  exhausted  state 
of  the  system,  require  much  digestive  labor.  And  for 
sedentary  men  two  meals  are  sufficient  — one  in  the 
morning  and  one  in  the  afternoon,  at  some  regular 
hour.  With 'this  arrangement  a good  appetite  will  be 
27 


il8  REGULAR  HOURS  NECESSARY. 

secured  at  every  meal,  especially  if  we  scrupulously 
avoid  taking  food  between  meals,  or  within  three  hours 
of  the  regular  time  for  sleep.  Digestion  will  go  on 
while  we  sleep,  unless  the  powers  of  the  system  are 
greatly  exhausted  by  the  labors  of  the  day ; but  sleep 
is  never  quiet  and  refreshing  while  the  stomach  is 
oppressed  with  food,  and  digestion  is  never  well  done 
while  the  system  is  exhausted,  as  we  have  all  had  occa- 
sion to  notice. 

And  here,  perhaps,  as  well  as  elsewhere,  I may  ex* 
plain  the  reason  for  these  suggestions.  Sleep  — "tired 
Nature’s  sweet  restorer  ” — imparts  to  the  system  all 
the  nervous  or  vital  energy  which  is  necessary  for  the 
duties  of  the  day,  and  to  keep  all  our  functions  in 
healthy,  harmonious  action,  and  secure  a good  appetite 
for  food.  This  vital  energy  must  be  expanded  during 
waking  hours,  partly  in  mental,  partly  in  muscular, 
and  partly  in  digestive  exercise.  We  may  so  expend 
it  all  in  intense  and  continuous  mental  effort  as  to  have 
none  left  for  muscular  or  digestive  powers,  as  we  have 
seen  in  cases  where  lawyers  or  legislators  have  given 
their  whole  powers  of  mind  to  an  important  case  till 
Nature  became  exhausted,  and  they  could  neither  walk 
nor  digest  food  till  partially  restored  by  sleep.  Or  we 
may  so  expend  the  vital  energy  in  muscular  exertion  as 
to  exhaust  the  whole  vital  force,  and  not  be  able  to 
think  or  to  digest  food  till  the  vital  energy  is  restored 
by  sleep.  Of  this  we  have  seen  examples  in  men  at  a 
fire,  or  in  a flood,  or  some  other  similar  emergency, 
who  would  fall  down  in  utter  exhaustion.;  and  to  pre- 


HOW  TO  HAVE  AN  APPETITE, 


419 


rent  taxing  the  digestive  powers  in  such  a state.  Nature 
provides  that  all  food  should  be  thrown  from  the 
stomach,  and  none  afterwards  received  till  sleep  should 
restore  the  exhausted  powers.  Or  we  may  so  engorge 
the  stomach  as  to  expend  all  our  vital  powers  on  diges- 
tion, and  become  incapable  of  mental  and  physical  exer- 
cise, and  even  to  destroy  the  powers  of  life.  Of  this 
we  have  seen  frequent  examples.  Two  miserable  men 
made  a wager  on  eating  eggs.  The  man  who  should 
eat  the  greatest  number  in  twelve  hou ’s  should  be  sup- 
plied with  grog  for  a week.  Before  the  end  of  twelve 
hours  both  fell  into  a stertorous  sleep,  from  which  one 
never  recovered,  and  the  other  not  for  some  days. 

From  these  principles  and  facts  we  get  some  valuable 
hints  in  regard  to  mental,  physical,  and  digestive  man- 
agement, and  may  infer  that  if  we  desire  a good  appe- 
tite in  the  morning,  when,  having  most  vital  power,  a 
good  appetite  is  most  valuable,  we  must  not  eat  a hearty 
meal  at  night,  when  the  system  is  exhausted,  but  must 
always  give  the  stomach  its  regular  tasks  and  its  time 
to  rest;  and  this  is  found  to  be  true  in  other  animals 
whose  digestive  apparatus  is  like  that  of  men. 

The  horse  is  kept  in  good  condition  only  by  being  fed 
at  regular  times,  and  pigs  also  thrive  much  better  if 
food  is  withheld  except  at  regular  hours. 

To  secure  a good  appetite  we  must  eat  good  food. 

Food,  to  be  perfectly  digested,  as  we  have  elsewhere 
seen,  must  be  taken  only  in  such  quantities  as  the 
system  demands,  and  if  we  take  only  natural  food,  in 
which  is  the  appropriate  mixture  of  necessary  elements, 


120  HOW  TO  HAVE  AN  APPETITE. 

the  appetite  can  always  be  trusted  to  interpret  the  de- 
mands of  the  system,  and  in  that  case  we  should  never 
eat  too  much.  But  eating,  as  we  do,  flour,  butter,  and 
sugar,  which  have  but  a part  of  the  elements  required, 
these  articles  can  only  be  digested  as  they  are  eaten 
with  food  deficient  in  the  elements  which  they  contain, 
and  these  are  very  few.  Consequently  these  redundant 
articles,  in  just  about  the  proportions  in  which  they  are 
eaten,  remain  undigested  in  the  stomach  and  bowels, 
causing  flatulence  and  derangement  of  the  secretions 
of  the  stomach,  mouth,  and  all  the  digestive  organs, 
and  the  sordes  of  the  teeth,  bad  taste  in  the  mouth, 
foulness  of  breath,  and  fastidious  appetite,  &c.,  which 
they  always  have  who  live  on  these  concentrated  car- 
bonaceous articles. 

How  to  secure  good  Relish  for  Food, 

The  importance  of  eating  food  with  a good-  relish  wc 
have  elsewhere  explained  (see  pages  207-211),  and 
we  have  also  shown  what  considerations  are  necessary 
in  regard  to  cooking,  condiments,  etc. 

What  we  now  want  to  know  is,  wliat  course  will  best 
secure  such  a relish  for  every  meal  of  food  as  to  induce 
digestion  sufiicient  to  supply  the  wastes  of  the  system, 
and  have  a surplus  for  filling  up  the  sharp  angles,  and 
for  covering  up  the  bones  and  muscles  with  a warm  and 
comely  coat,  and  to  secure  this  influence  permanently, 
according  to  the  evident  intention  of  Nature?  For  a 
single  meal,  that  which  combines  a good  supply  of 


HOW  TO  EELISH  FOOD. 


421 


carbonaceous  elements  with  nitrogenous  and  phosphat- 
ic,  in  such  a manner  and  with  such  accompaniments 
as  to  secure  the  highest  possible  gustatory  enjoyments, 
would  be  most  fattening ; but  extraordinary  gustatory 
enjoyments  can  no  more  be  permanent  than  other  ex- 
traordinary pleasures,  and  the  reaction  and  subsequent 
disrelish  for  common  and  natural  enjoyments  are  pro- 
portionate to  the  excess.  And  to  attempt  to  keep  up 
the  relish  for  food  by  keeping  up  a supply  of  everything 
especially  agreeable,  would  prove  an  utter  failure ; for 
they  enjoy  the  least  who  try  the  hardest  to  tempt  the 
appetite  with  the  greatest  variety  of  good  things.  Soon 
becoming  cloyed  with  everything  rich  and  savory,  while 
nothing  else  can  be  relished,  the  choicest  viands,  how- 
ever nicely  prepared,  become  loathsome  and  even  dis- 
gusting. 

But  the  appetite  never  cloys  with  food  as  Nature 
furnishes  it,  if  so  prepared  as  best  to  develop  the  relish 
which  naturally  belongs  to  it,  especially  if  we  cook  but 
a small  variety  for  the  same  meal,  so  that  some  variety 
can  be  had  continually ; but  if  we  cook  together  to-day 
all  the  variety  of  meats  and  vegetables  in  common  use, 
and  mingle  their  flavor  together,  as  is  done  in  restaurants 
and  hotels,  although  we  may  have  for  once  an  agreeable 
combination  of  flavors,  yet  having,  as  we  must  have, 
the  same  combination  to-morrow,  the  next  day,  and 
continually,  it  soon  becomes  tiresome. 

To  secure  good  digestion  and  a good  adipose  cover- 
ing, two  things  more  are  needed,  — one  is  to  eat  slowly, 
and  the  other  is  included  in  that  beautiful  description  of 


422 


SLOW  EATING  IMPORTANT. 


a good  and  happy  people,  they  "did  eat  their  meat  with 
gladness  and  singleness  of  heart. 

Good  Digestion  depends  on  eating  deliberately. 

No  one  habit  in  this  country  contributes  so  largely  to 
dyspepsia  and  leanness  as  that  of  bolting  food.  Proba- 
bly the  average  length  of  time  devoted  to  the  principal 
meals  is  not  over  fifteen  mirfutes  among  business  men, 
mechanics,  and  laborers.  That  such  a habit  must  be 
productive  of  indigestion,  and  consequent  leanness,  will 
be  made  apparent  by  considering  the  object  accom- 
plished by  masticating  food.  One  great  object  is  to 
keep  in  the  mouth,  in  contact  with  the  nerves  of  taste, 
the  savory  morsel  till  its  flavor  has  aroused  the  secre- 
tions of  the  juices,  which  are  the  principal  agents  in  the 
process  of  digestion,  and  gathered  them  not  only  in  the 
mouth,  but  also  in  the  stomach.  That  the  presence  in 
the  mouth,  and  even  the  sight  and  smell  of  food  which 
we  relish,  does  arouse  these  secretions,  we  cannot  have 
failed  to  notice. 

Another  object  in  masticating  food  is  so  to  commi- 
nute it,  that  when  received  into  the  stomach  the  gai^tric 
juice  will  be  admitted  at  once  to  every  particle,  and  the 
process  of  digestion  be  commenced  at  once  in  every 
part  of  the  morsel.  But  how  different  from  this  natu- 
ral condition  is  the  food  in  the  stomach  of  the  man  who 
bolts  his  food  in  morsels  as  large  as  can  be  made  to  pass 
down,  and,  in  the  time  necessary  to  prepare  a single 
ounce  for  easy  digestion,  has  filled  his  capacious  maw 


riVil^OilTANOE  OF  SLOW  EATING. 


42£ 


with  these  enormous  masses  of  indigestible  food ! I 
have  seen  masses  of  beef  thrown  from  the  stomach 
after  remaining  there  undigested  three  or  four  days, 
or  even  a week. 

Can  we  wonder,  then,  that  we  find  among  our  mer- 
chants and  business  men,  who  never  can  spare  but 
fifteen  minutes  for  their  meals,  so  many  cadaverous, 
desiccated,  ''ill-favored  and  lean-fleshed”  specimens  of 
humanity?  The  wonder  is,  that,  not  conforming  to  the 
conditions  on  which  good  healthy  juices  are  secreted, 
and  not  comminuting  the  food,  so  that  those  that  are 
formed  can  come  in  contact  with  the  massive  morsels, 
except  on  their  surface,  enough  can  be  digested  to  keep 
them  alive. 

Good  Digestion  is  promoted  by  Cheerfulness. 

Nothing  is  better  understood  than  that  there  is  a 
connection  between  cheerfulness  and  good  digestion ; 
and  the  trite  expression,  "to  laugh  and  grow  fat,”  un- 
doubtedly had  its  origin  in  observation,  if  not  in  philos- 
ophy. What  an  astonishing  amount  and  variety  of 
food  can  be  disposed  of,  and  perfectly  digested,  at  one 
sitting  of  two  or  three  hours,  by  a company  of  cheerful 
and  happy,  not  to  say  jolly  and  merry,  old  friends,  and 
that  without  alcohol,  or  any  other  unnatural  stimulus,  to 
help  digestion  ! I venture  to  say  more  than  three  times 
as  much  as  the  same  individuals  could  eat  and  digest  in 
the  same  time  if  each  took  his  meals  by  himself. 

And  this  one  fact  is  worth  more  than  all  else  I can 


m 


CHEERFULNESS  PROMOTES  DIGESTION. 


write  to  show  the  dependence  of  the  digestive  powers 
on  the  state  of  the  mind,  and  to  prove  that  he  must  be 
lean  and  haggard  who,  keeping  his  mind  constantly  on 
his  business,  bolts  his  meals  in  silence  and  solitude, 
even  in  the  presence  of  his  family.  I commend  it  to 
the  careful  consideration  of  uncomfortable  mortals  who 
never  properly  digest  their  food,  and  whose  bones  are 
too  poorly  clothed  with  flesh,  and  too  poorly  protected 
ever  to  allow  them  quiet  rest,  and  who,  therefore,  envy 
*'fat,  sleek-headed  men,  and  such  as  sleep  o’  nights.” 
From  these  considerations  I venture  to  affirm,  that 
any  man  not  absolutely  sick,  who  so  trusts  in  Provi- 
dence as  to  be  able  to  obey  the  spirit  of  the  injunction, 
” Take  no  thought  for  the  morrow ; ” who  keeps  from 
his  stomach,  except  as  they  are  needed  for  animal  heat, 
such  heating  food  as  butter,  starch,  and  sugar,  and 
who,  therefore,  digests  all  he  eats ; vfho  eats  at  such 
regular  and  appropriate  times  as  to  secure  rest  for  the 
stomach  and  a good  appetite ; who  never  taxes  the 
stomach  with  food  when  tired  and  exhausted ; who  eats 
nothing  that  cannot  be  relished,  and  nothing  the  relish 
of  which  is  not  natural,  or  allows  anything  to  enter  the 
stomach  that  is  not  needed  as  food  or  drink ; who  takes 
his  food  so  deliberately  as  to  have  it  properly  masti- 
cated and  lubricated,  and  who  eats  his  "meat  with 
gladness  and  singleness  of  heart,”  will  be  exempt  from 
dyspepsia,  and  his  bones  will  be  covered  with  a com- 
fortable and  comely  coating  of  flesh. 


APPENDIX  TO  REVISED  EDITION. 


A,  PAGE  33.  — The  discovery  made  by  Dr.  Hayes,  that  the 

muscle-making  elements  of  nourishment  reside  in  the  outer 
crust  of  wheat  and  other  grain,  is  a very  important  one,  and 
tliough^its  practical  application  has  been  delayed  for  twenty- 
live  years,  will  yet  result  in  saving  thousands  from  Apoplexy, 
Chlorosis,  Consumption,  and  hundreds  of  other  ills  which  come 
from  the  use  of  concentrated  carbonaceous  food  in  the  civilized 
world  ; and  as  a counter  claim  for  the  honor  of  the  discovery 
has  been  set  up,  I feel  it  to  be  my  duty  to  go  for  the  right, 
and  protect  my  record.  I have  therefore  obtained  the  following 
testimony  on  this  point.  Dr.  Samuel  L.  Dana,  who  is  known 
and  respected  by  every  chemist  and  scientific  man  in  the  coun- 
try, writes : “ In  1841  or  1842,  Dr.  Hayes  showed  me  his 

process  in  detail  of  testing  whole  grain,  which  was  entirely 
new  and  original  at  the  time.”  There  was  also  in  1844  a re- 
port to  the  Patent  Office,  giving  Dr.  Hayes  credit  for  the  dis- 
covery ; but  the  most  marvelous  testimony  (considering  the 
new  claim)  remains  to  be  given.  In  the  “ Report  of  the  Geol- 
ogy  of-  New  Hampshire,”  by  Charles  T.  Jackson,  M.  D.,  page 
256,  speaking  of  this  application  of  tests  to  the  whole  grain, 
are  these  words : “ This  experiment  was  first  made  by  Dr.  A. 

A.  Hayes.” 

B,  PAGE  16.  — The  use  of  the  terms  Nitrates,  Carbonates, 
and  Phosphates,  has  been  criticised ; but  the  reader  will  re- 
member that  the  object  of  the  book  is  to  instruct  unscientific 
readers,  and  that  in  using  the  terms  as  I must,  perhaps,  one 
hundred  times,  it  is  quite  a saving  of  labor  to  write  Carbonates 
and  Nitrates,  rather  than  Carbonaceous  Elements,  Nitrogenous 
Elements,  etc.,  and  as  no  pretense  is  made  for  scientific  ac- 
curacy, the  criticism  is  hardly  fair. 


426 


APPENDIX  TO  REVISED  EDITION. 


C,  PAGE  215.  — As  a means  of  preserving  the  flavor  of  tea 
and  coffee,  the  “ Old  Dominion  ” coffee-pot  is  a philosophical  ar 
rangement ; as  is  also,  on  the  same  principle,  the  arrange- 
ment for  preserving  the  flavor  of  meats  and  vegetables  by  Zim- 
merman’s steamer,  and  Duncklee’s  improvement  on  it  — an 
invention  of  inestimable  value,  both  as  a means  of  economy 
!ii  fuel  and  of  ivholesome  cookery.  The  principle  is  the  same 
in  both,  but  Duncklee’s  is  more  easily  kept  clean. 

D,  PAGE  63.  — After  consulting  one  of  the  most  critical 
scientific  scholars  in  Boston,  in  regard  to  the  propriety  of  at- 
tempting to  convey  to  common-sense  minds,  in  the  most  con- 
cise manner  possible,  without  technical  language  or  more  of 
detail  than  necessary,  just  so  much  of  Physiology  and  Chemis- 
try as  would  enable  them  to  understand  the  subject,  I wrote 
the  sentence  referred  to  (p.  63),  and  many  others  of  a similar 
character,  not  thinking  it  possible  that  any  man  of  common 
sense  would  understand  this  to  be  a full  explanation  of  all  the 
author  knew  of  Chemistry,  Physiology,  or  any  other  of  the 
sciences ; but  a professor  of  some  school  or  college  out  West, 
of  whom  I never  before  heard,  covers  seven  pages  of  a respect- 
able monthly  in  Detroit,  in  quoting  these  sentences,  and  show- 
ing how  much  more  is  known  of  Chemistry  and  Physiology, 
than  the  author  seems  to  know,  etc.,  etc.,  beginning  by  com- 
paring the  “ Philosophy  of  Eating,”  with  the  philosophy  of 
“ the  dawdling  Mrs.  Jefferson  Brick,”  and  closing  with  the 
grave  advice,  that  the  author  should  correct  his  second  edi- 
tion, after  first  “ informing  himself  in  Physiology,”  etc.  After 
all  these,  and  a dozen  more  similar,  imputations  against  the 
oook,  and  the  author’s  knowledge  of  Chemistry,  Physiology, 
Botany,  and  even  Grammar,  capping  the  climax  of  disparage- 
Dient  with  “ We  wonder  a little  why  his  book  was  written, 
unless  it  was  to  sell,”  the  Professor  shows  his  appreciation  of 
the  intellect  and  acquirements  of  his  professional  brethren,  to 
whom  he  writes  as  follows  : “ In  conclusion,  I would  recom- 
mend the  book  as  containing  much  that  is  instructive  to  most 
professional^  as  well  as  non-professional,  readers  ” 1 


si.' 


